Playing with Reality
by The General Electric
Summary: Smarter and More Observant, Ichigo's Personality Brings a New Bearing to Zangetsu When He Manifests His Zanpakuto the Day He Meets Rukia. But Surely, Such a Small Thing Won't Change All That Much, Not Really. Right?
1. The Shaping of a New Reality

**Playing With Reality, Chapter One**  
**The Shaping of a New Reality**

_Bleach is the property of Kubo "The Troll" Tite. I Own nothing and am just playing with his characters for the lols.  
Much like he does. Ohohohoho! _

* * *

Rukia could only look on stunned, as the human she had meant to lend half her powers to, forcibly took them all, and emerged from the sphere of spiritual energy.

The Zanpakuto.

It was jaw dropping, the boy had manifested a Zanpaku-to, whose blade was even taller than him, resembling a broadsword more than katana, one side of the blade a pitch black, the other a chalk white.

And the reiatsu rolling off him...

"Impossible, how could a human possess so much spiritual pressure. He has nearly as much as Hitsugaya-Taicho..." She murmured.

"**Amazing**." oh right the Hollow. She'd almost forgotten. "**Such Spiritual Pressure, you'll make a tasty meal.**" It laughed charging at the Orange haired boy.

"ICHIGO MOVE!" Rukia cried, she didn't give him her power, just so he could go and get eaten. Struggling to find her feet, she watched in wide eyed horror as Ichigo stood stock still, the Hollow almost on him.

"Hey Hollow," he whispered, head snapping up, eyes flashing a resolute brown. "Go to hell."

* * *

Clenching his sword tightly, his knukles turning white, he watched in barely restrained glee as Grand Fisher, the Hollow who had killed his Mother, back away from him fearfully, a look of pure terror locked on the face of the bait he used to lure in unsuspecting good Samaritans, such as he had been all those years ago.

But now, he thought twisted grin locked on his face as the same Hollow who had made him feel so helpless and lost was at his mercy.

"Please, no I'm sorry Ichigo Kurosaki. It was never personal, never I swear." The Hollow started and stammered as Ichigo stepped closer and closer towards the green beast, the girl at the end of his lure, sweating.

"It is to me." Ichigo ground out, dragging his sword behind him as he charged, intent on wiping the Hollow from the face of the world once and for all.

"NO!" Both the Hollow and its Lure yelled out in synchrony, Ichigo stopping short, face to face with the little girl at the end of the lure.

Only it wasn't a little girl anymore.

"Ichigo... you wouldn't hurt your mother now... would you?" The face of Masaki Kurosaki asked softly, hands cupping the frozen teen's face as he shook in silent shock and sorrow, the image of Masaki moving her hand towards his own, resting above the guard of his sword. "Why don't you put this down? My little boy has no need for weapons, not my little Ichigo." She whispered, the sword slipping from his grasp, a look of triumph spreading across Fisher's face, a look of anguish on the boy's. "YOU'RE MINE! ICHIGO KUROSAKI!" The Hollow roared, closing the distance between itself and his Lure, intent on ending the boy once and for all.

"I'm sorry... Mum." Ichigo sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

"Shush now." The Lure comforted. "It will all be over soon."

"I know." And with an echoing crack, Ichigo's hands twisted the image of her mother's head right around, snapping its neck, his face tear stained and furious, as he snatched up his sword and met Grand Fisher's charge head on.

His Zanpakuto only slicing the Hollow's bone white mask as a flurry of green tendrils diverted the attack slightly.

"Argh damn you Kurosaki!" The whole cried, the space behind him tearing and cracking as a hole in reality appeared behind it. Dashing into the gap, Fisher growled a laugh at a charging Ichigo. "I'll be back Kurosaki, and I'll kill you dead!"

Ichigo roared as his sword swung, only it was too late. The blade flashed through empty air and he fell to his knees. Eyes haunted and broken.

Rukia could only stare in muted horror as the most heart wrenching roar rent itself from the human boy's throat.

* * *

"It is raining today, Ichigo." A black clothed figure murmured in an azure cityscape, perched high on a flagpole, gazing up at the endless sky as a cold and bitter rain hit his face. Images of a green beast and Masaki Kurosaki flashing in the windows. "I don't like the rain Ichigo. The rain brings you sorrow. Next time, I will protect you from the rain, I swear it."

* * *

"To think, you were actually a Shinigami all this time." The boy spoke condescendingly, fingers pushing up at his glasses. "I don't know how I could have missed it before."

Ichigo quirked his head, confused at Uryu's behaviour. "Yeah, I'm a Shinigami. So what does that matter?"

A derisive snort answered his question. "What does it matter? Its all that matters Kurosaki. I am a Quincy, you are a Shinigami. Nature itself has decreed us mortal enemies and I don't let my enemies live." A bow of blue light sprung to life in Ishida's hand, an bolt of blue energy fired off and scored the ground at Ichigo's feet.

"Hey what the hell was that for?"

"I will prove to you, Kurosaki, that Karakura Town has no need for the likes of you Shinigami. That you are obsolete in this world." His right hand pulled something out of his pocket, a small nondescript cube, and shattered it. "I challenge you to prove yourself better than me, Kurosaki."

And the sky cracked.

* * *

He could see it.

The creature that had been dogging him and Yuzu, Ichigo's little sister, intent on killing them.

He vaguely recalled another moment in time and another creature like the one before him, but he couldn't take the time to remember as the creature charged them, Ichigo having entrusted his sister's safety to him. No he couldn't focus on the past, he had to end this monster. Not for himself or his own personal pleasure, but for Yuzu's sake.

In that second he felt a well of power erupt from within him, wrapping itself around his right arm.

With a satisfied grunt, his right arm met the monster's bone covered face, an eruption of blue energy erupting in a brilliant blaze.

* * *

"Zanten Kesshun." Orihime growled, her new companion Tsubaki responding to her desire to end the monster's life. The beast that had hurt Tatsuki, Chizuro, and so many others today alone.

The tiny sprite rocketed towards the tentacled Hollow, a roar of joy echoing from deep within the tiny black clad man, as he impacted against the Hollow. "No, no! Stop! We can work this out, we can talk!" The Hollow cried in desperation, sensing its coming end. "You don't have to do this!"

Orihime regarded the Hollow with steely brown eyes, this monster had hurt Tatsuki, Chizuru and so many others. It was going to kill them. A stray tear escaping her eyes, she knew she couldn't show mercy to this beast. "I reject."

And she knew, that the beasts screams of pain as Tsubaki destroyed it from the inside out would haunt her forever.

* * *

"Just lay there and die." Rukia spat, her tine of voice completely contradicting her expression, as she stood at the back of her Brother and Renji. "Just stop fighting, and maybe you can live a little longer." She whispered, the unsaid _'long enough to be found and_ _saved_' making itself very clear.

"...I won't, I won't let them take you." Ichigo choked out, dragging himself across the ground, only to be stopped as Renji's foot came crashing down on his wrist.

"Give it up, Trash." The red haired man snarled. "You're done here."

Letting out a desperate cry as the trio of Shinigami stepped into a gate that appeared out of thin air, the boy's eyes drooped and darkness claimed him.

* * *

"Shatter the moon's reality ZANGETSU!" the dust kicked up as Ichigo's broken hilt morphed into a blade resembling a butcher's knife that was as tall as Ichigo himself, deep black in color, the white now translating to the edge of the blade.

A long white bandage wrapped itself around his arm, and flowed out behind him.

"I hope you're ready hat 'n' clogs;" Ichigo growled; "Cause I'm going to hurt you so, so much, it's not even funny."

The bandages wrapped around his left arm slackened, until they were fully encircling him, like a dome, spinning wildly through the air. "Sasapo." (Whisper Step)  
At the whispered command, the swirling cloth stilled and contracted around the boy, shrouding his entire figure, not even leaving a strand of hair visible, before the popped open falling to the ground and evaporating.

And Ichigo wasn't there.

'No way, an illusion type Zanpakuto?' Urahara thought stunned, his sword coming up to his chest in a defensive position, just as Ichigo reappeared at his back sword drawn back, bluish energy flowing along it.

"Breathe, Benihime!"

And Ichigo just roared, his blade streaking through the air.

* * *

"Captain… Ichimaru…"

Ichigo leaned over curiously to see who had put such fear into the giant man he had just bested.

Silver hair, a devious smile and a short daito poking out of a white haori.

'Just like Byakuya's… that Haori must signify a rank of some sort then.'

"Now, now, Jidanbo… just what do you think you're doing? Why are you opening the gate for people who obviously don't belong here, hmm?" The man drawled, his grin never diminishing.

"Their leader defeated me, it is only honorable that I let them pass." the simple giant replied, his voice shaking slightly.

Ichimaru shook his head sadly, clucking his tongue several times as if he had just heard a child try to explain just why their hand was in the cookie jar.

"Now that's not right, a gatekeeper must fight any intruder to his dying breath, honor plays no part whatsoever…" sliding the Daito out of it's sheathe he pointed his blade straight at the giants heart. "I'm really gonna miss you, ya know?"

_'What the hell, does expect to cover that distance before any of us go to strike that's insane!'_

_'Wait, it's a Zanpaku-to, it's gotta have something more than that but what?'_

"Shoot to kill…"

Ichigo's eyes widened; _'Shit either the blade fires some sort of beam or…'_

"Shinso."

"…IT EXTENDS!" Ichigo roared as he deflected the fox faced man's blade, making it sever the giant's arm, instead of splitting open his heart.

"ICHIGO NO DON'T!" Yoruichi yelled in warning, but it was pointless because by that time, Ichigo had already charged Ichimaru, and the gate had slammed shut.

And the party he'd left behind stood gob smacked until Yoruichi spoke up "Hurry! Follow me, we must get in there immediately, and hope to God that boy hasn't killed himself."

Determined nods were her only answer.

* * *

Ichigo stood flat against the wall, hunched over, gasping in desperate breath after desperate breath.

That man that monster of a Shinigami had destroyed him, blocking every desperate attack, seeing through every feint and breaking down every strategy Ichigo could come up with, pressured as he was.

Even the illusory abilities of Zangetsu had been highly ineffective, in fact as they had landed, the Shinigami's eyes had taken on a look of suprise, followed by a grin that had been full of far to much glee for his liking.

_"Hoh, an Illusion type Zanpaku-to, ne?" _He had questioned resting his own blade on his shoulder. _"How... unexpected. But maybe not, as clever as you are Ichi-kun. I might even just keep this to myself, our little secret as it were."_

Biting back a growl at sharing anything with the man, he bent down low, grip on Zangetsu tightening as a stampede of Shinigami stormed past his hiding spot.

Letting out a sigh he allowed himself to relax, his racing heart calming, if only just slightly.

Pushing himself to his feet, he leapt up to the nearest roof, and made his way across the expansive city to the menacing white tower in the center, never noticing the presence shadowing his movements.

* * *

"He's good." A man with blonde hair, that fell past his neck, dovetailing towards his shoulders, fringe covering his right eye. "Just as good as Ichimaru-Taicho said. I think we'll need to be careful with this one, Wabiskue."

* * *

Uryu let out a smirk as he destroyed the supposed Shinigami Elites released Zanpakuto, the 20 or so bladed shuriken that the 20th seat of squad 8 had created shattering in the air and falling to the ground, his bow taut ready to deliver the final blow. "To attack an unarmed woman in an attempt to wound me? It was such a transparent move." The quincy taunted in barely bridled glee, letting his arrow loose, feeling a vindictive pleasure as it hit home.

"I have just destroyed your Soul Chain and Soul Sleep. You will live, but you will never be a Shinigami again. Scum like you, don't deserve that power."

"Woah, you're so awesome Ishida-kun." Orihime muttered behind him, the awe apparent in her voice.

Smirking, the young boy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the sunlight glinting of them momentarily hiding his eyes. If this was a so called Shinigami Elite, there was no chance they would not be able to come away from this rescue without Rukia in tow.

* * *

"Yorouichi-san, where do we go from here?" Sado Yasatora questioned of the black cat perched on his shoulder, as he ran through the tangled streets of the Soul Society, his spiritual weapon, Brazo Derecha de Gigante, out in full view, sleeving his arm and thrumming with barely contained power.

"There are two places they would most likely be restraining her." Yoruichi asserted, pawing his arm slightly indicating that he should swing a left. "Either her division holding cell, which considering she is Nobility is most likely out or the Blank Tower, which is where most Captain Class offenders end up."

"So should we not head towards the tower then?" Sado asked slightly, ducking out of sight of a passing patrol, all screaming towards where the Shiba Cannonball had deposited them not 10 minutes earlier.

"Hmm, if Ichigo is still alive, and the fact that his body isn't being paraded through the streets he most likely is, that will most likely be where he runs to first, Ishida too. No, just in case we should head towards Rukia's Division, the Thirteenth." The cat affirmed, leaping from his shoulder. "Follow me, and stick close." He called, sprinting around a corner that emerged in a courtyard surrounded by Sakura trees, only to come screeching to a halt, Sado mimicking her as he came to a stop behind her.

"Damnit, not her. Not now." Yorouichi ground out, hackles raised a hiss escaping the felines voice.

Sado swallowed thickly, the presence of the woman in front of him almost stifling in its strength, yet calm at the same time, like a coiled spring ready to bounce almost. And it told every inch of his body to run away screaming.

But he couldn't move, his legs wouldn't listen, not as she started walking towards him, not as she slowly drew her sword. Not even as she started talking.

"Ryoka. My name is Soifon, I am Captain of both the Second Division and of the Onmitsukidō. I have been ordered to track down you and all of your cohorts and to eliminate you for the crimes of trespassing into the Soul Society." She spoke, every word measured and precise, the sword now held in a reverse grip, her left hand hovering over the hilt, her spiritual presence rising, causing the boy to drop to his knees at the sheer amount of it, eyes staring blankly ahead, not even comprehending her words as the pressure increased.

_'This is insane... is this what Ichigo had to fight when he ran after that man at the gate?'_ He thought as the Captain stopped infront of him.

"Do not worry, I will respect the prowess you must have possesed to have infiltrated the Seireitei, you will get that much I promise. Sting all Enemies to Death." Sweeping her sword away from herself, the short sword morphed, melting into a new form that sat itself onto her wrist. "This is my Shikai, Suzumebachi." She announced, a hint of pride on her voice as she pulled back her arm to end the boy's life, before thrusting it foward only to find it repelled by an unclothed hand.

The Captain's eyes widened, several emotions flashing through them as she took in the new figure. "You... I should've known." She ground out, a tribal marking inking itself onto the new arrivals skin.

Chad's eyes also widened as he took in the naked form of Yorouichi. The _very _naked form of Yoruichi. His mouth dry, but his muscles now relaxed, the Captain's opressive presence now focussed entirely on Yoruichi. "What... I... How did you...?" Sado stammered awkwardly, shuffling to his feet slowly.

"Later, Sado-kun. You know what you have to do, leave me. I can handle this Little Bee myself." She smirked, watching as the Captain's cheeks flushed slightly before a growl escaped the clothed woman's throat."

"I am going to end you, Yoruichi Shihoin." Soifon growled, phasing out of existence only to appear in Sado's path, Suzemubachi poised to shoot through his heart, only to be kicked away as Yoruichi kicked her out of the way.

"Stop watching and go Sado!" she growled, dodging a series of high speed slashes courtesy of Soifon. "Mummy and Daddy are talking."

With a nod and a last look over his shoulder, Sado took off running, sure that Yoruichi would catch up.

"Well then." Yoruichi murmered as Sado faded from her senses, turning towards her former student and bodyguard, a sad smile on her face. "Shall we dance, my Little Bee?"

* * *

Kira let out a breath as the Ryoka boy stopped for a second to catch his breath. It was time to put a stop to this. Snapping his Zanpakuto to the side, he muttered "Raise your head" before disappearing in a flash of Shunpo, reappearing right in front of the boy, who even in his shock, managed to raise his giant cleaver like blade to bear his attack.

_'Perfect.'_ Izuru thought, drawing Wabisuke back to strike out at the suddenly off balance boy, his sword being doubled in weight by the effect of Wabisuke's presence, only for the boy to let his sword slip from his grasp and off of the cloth that had been wrapped around the handle, weave around Kira's strike and nail him straight in the gut with a powerful jab.

"I don't know what you did to Zangetsu." The teen started, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "But I figure it wouldn't be smart to try and use him in this fight, you'd most likely just do it again and again."

Kira raised Wabisuke in a defensive position as the boy launched forward, muscles coiled like a snake.

Each strike was dodged, each slash avoided before it could land. The boy had obviously had some training in Hakuda, he was to good not to have, but he could tell the boy was getting frustrated, even as Kira missed the fleet footed human, he didn't allow himself any openings and he knew that the boy would risk trying to parry or block Wabisuke with his bare hands, not only for the risk of getting sliced, but also because he didn't know exactly how his Wabisuke worked.

It was only a matter of time before he had him.

Wait... where did he go?

"Sasapo."

He didn't even register the roundhouse kick that slapped him to the ground, skipping him across the greyish tiles and straight through a nearby wall.

Struggling to pull himself out of the rubble he watched as the human walked past him and picked up his sword, the bandage that had been wrapped around the handle of the massive cleaver, wrapped around the boy's arm instead, before leaving Izuru to his well earned unconsciousness.

* * *

"Word is, you beat back two Lieutenants." The mountain of a man smirked, hands playing with the hilt of his sword. "That makes you pretty strong huh?"

Ichigo's grip on Zangetsu tightened as the Captains Spiritual Pressure crashed into him.

He wasn't like Byakuya, whose presence was calm and controlled, like a rippling pond, the man infront of him was more like a storm ridden sea, wild and thrashing, dragging everything caught in its wake down into an inky death.

"Eh, whats wrong? You're shaking." The vicious Captain frowned, eyes dulling. "Tch. Don't tell me you're scared."

"Oh he's so scared Kenny." A voice echoed from his feet, eyes shooting downward he found a small pink headed child looking up at him from his knees, a Lieutenant's patch on her arm, signifying her rank. "Just look at his eyes, they're so wide. Ne, Fire Pants?"

"I'm not scared." Ichigo bit out leaping back from the girl, Zangetsu held behind him, cloth flapping behind him as he charged his own Presence, eyes glowing slightly.

_'Taking this guy head on will be suicide, but he doesn't seem the type to just let me do anything else than take him on one on one.'_ Gritting his teeth, he used his free hand to beckon to the Captain. "Bring it."

His grin returning, the vicious Captain, let out a bellowing laugh as the girl leapt upto the rooftops of the skyscrapers surrounding them. "That's good, real good. Keep that up, keep your Pressure nice and sharp, one little slip and you're dead."

Gulping slightly Ichigo drew Zangetsu around into a two handed grip. This was going to be brutal.

* * *

"Did you see them cart in Renji?" A black haired man with bandages taped to his face asked of the room, each person in the room bearing the patch of a Lieutenant Class Shinigami.

The one who had asked the question, Hisagi Shuuhei, Lieutenant of the Ninth, continued on. "It wasn't pretty, he was a bloody mess and Zabimaru was in pieces."

He glanced worriedly around the room as his fellow Lieutenants took on looks to mirror his own. Rangiku Matsumoto Lieutenant of the Tenth was biting her lip, and playing with the ring she wore on a chain around her neck, no hint of the playful, slightly alcoholic woman anyway on her face.

Choujiro Sasikube, Lieutenant of the First, was scratching the skin just below his eye, the stoic man letting just a bit of worry creep into his eyes.

"How are we supposed to fight that?" Iba of the Seventh asked incredulously. "Renji was probably the closet of us to Captain Level, hell he's even close to getting Bankai. How can the Captains expect us to stand against whatever tore him and Izuru apart?"

Shaking her head, Rangiku let the necklace drop from her hands, settling for folding her arms instead. "I don't think they do." She started with a sigh. "Hitsugaya-Taicho said something about Captains getting the go ahead for wartime release rules."

That struck the room silent. Usually, Captain's were forbidden from releasing their Zanpakuto within the confines of the Seireitei, doing so was an offense punishable with everything just short of death. To allow them the liberty of release regardless of those laws was a massive deal, and usually meant that the Captain Commander was set to unleash his fellow Captains upon whatever problem they were dealing with.

Before anymore speculation could happen, an ear piercing shriek rent the air.

"That sounded like Hinamori." Choujiro murmured, unsheathing his Zanpakuto and leading his fellow Lieutenant's out towards the scream.

* * *

It couldn't be possible... There was no way. It was just a cruel trick. Right?

But as much as she wanted to deny it, as much as she wanted it to be a bad dream the blood on her hands was too warm and the smell was to real.

Captain Aizen was dead.

The reality hit her like a run away train and she screamed.

* * *

Rukia's knees buckled, her brother's Reiatsu crashing into her like a runaway train. There was no way, if Ichigo couldn't stand up to him, there was no way Sado could.

She wanted to scream at him, to run, to save his life and get as far away as he could. But the words wouldin't come, the sounds dying in her throat as her eyes zeroed in on her brother, the pure rage echoing in his eyes.

"I felt a reiatsu making its way towards this tower. I thought that maybe it was an enemy suppressing their presence, but in the end it turns out it was just a mere ant." He spoke derisively, unsheathing his sword slowly as he stepped towards the pair.

* * *

Sado Yasatora was a simple kind of person.

Not to say he was stupid, if his school record was anything to go on he was in fact quite switched on, but he had a very simple mentality about everything. Ichigo had befriended him, Ichigo had bled for him. So when Urahara had asked him to help Ichigo in saving Rukia it had been a no brainer. Of course he would help.

But there was to it then even that. With the manifestation of Brazo Derecha de Gigante he had broken the memory blocks Rukia had placed on him during the several times where he bore witness to her and the supernatural and he had remembered her risking her own life for his, even though she could barely call on her own powers at the time.

So not only was he here to help Ichigo, he was here to repay Rukia Kuchiki for saving his own life.

He had felt the Captain's, (Soi Fon was her name?) Spiritual Pressure crash into him on the way here. He had only escaped that on the merits of Yoruichi.

He could feel this man's Pressure and although it hadn't frozen him in his place completely, to compare the Female captain's pressure to the one crashing into him now would be almost unfair.

Knowing he would only have one chance at this, he manifested Brazo Derecha de Gigante and charged the man, an El Directo blast almost bursting at the seams as he approached the almost stoic Captain.

"You are... slow." Eyes widening, Brazo Derecha melting off of his arm, Sado looked to his back, the Shinigami already there his arm fully extended, sword dripping blood.

_'Is that... mine?'_

And then his world exploded in pain.

* * *

"That power of yours was interesting. You are certainly no Quincy and they are the only humans we were aware of that possessed such abilities." Byakuya spoke softly, staring at the slowly falling human, flicking his sword to the side, the boy's blood flying clean off of it. "But in the end, no human can stand up to a Shinigami Captain. Spiritual abilities or no, it was just your misfortune that you had to run into me."

He continued his gait, slow and steady, until he was standing over his sister. _'No. She is a traitor, a criminal. Not a sister of mine.'_ His sword resting on her shoulder, the edge trailing along her neck traced a small, almost invisible, cut across the skin. "You have defied our laws, committed a crime of Treason and have now attempted to flee our justice aided and abetted by other criminals. Give me one reason why I should let you have your remaining ten days of penitence and not just carry out your sentence now."

"Because the minute you go to kill her is the moment I kill you." A voice echoed from behind the pair.

Both eyes locked onto the stairs that led up to the bridge and there, bloodied and battered, was Ichigo Kurosaki, standing proud and tall. "How you doing, Byakuya Kuchiki?"

* * *

His hand grasped the The bar that had made up the left point of the Sanrei Glove's cross body quivering in barely supressed rage, his Presence burning away the twisted photograph of his Grandfather splayed open and mutilated as his voice growled out.

"Do you want to know the name he kept saying? The name you can't remember?" Uryu spoke softly in defiance of his current state of fury, eyes shining in victory as he saw the curiosity in the creature's face.

"How are you standing? And how would you know that name? Was he someone you knew?" The scientist shot of quickly, his desire for answers almost embarrassingly obvious.

"The name he kept saying was Uryu. Uryu Ishida. His own name was Sōken Ishida. He was my teacher and my Grandfather!" Uryu all but screamed as his Presence lashed out, tearing and lashing at the ground around him. "And I'm going to kill you. Not for what you've done to me, but for him!"

With that cry, he tugged down on the metal in his grasp, the sound echoing around the deserted street and, for just a second, time seemed to suspend itself and Uryu saw things with far more clarity than ever before.

The bonds of Spiritual Presence that made up the buildings and streets, hell the very world that he stood in now, he could see every little bit of it in picture perfect quality. The way that the mad man's own Presence twisted and squirmed like a hive of maggots and the small trail that leaked from his body and led away to somewhere else.

He could see the tainted and almost feel the artificial nature of the woman's own presence and he could even taste the warm radiance of (the now absent) Orihime's.

It was as if every strand and spot of Spiritual Presence was his to know and command. To dominate.

And then his world exploded, the threads for ransotengai unraveling and his very clothes changing their shape and nature.

The power was intoxicating and he knew, that with it, he would put Mayuri Kurotsuchi into the ground.

* * *

"BANKAI!"

'Impossible!' Kuchiki Byakuya thought desperately. 'Bankai is the pinnacle of a Shinigami's power, even in the 4 Noble Houses only a Handful achieve it, how can this human, possibly have gained it, in three days no less?' The idea was ludicrous, even if Kiskue Urahara had managed it, he had been a Shinigami of the highest caliber, to think that a mere _ human_ could possibly match that record was unfathomable.

As the dust cleared and Ichigo was revealed, the giant bandaged cleaver that was Zangetsu replaced with a black and white bladed pitch Nodachi, set into a Manji shaped guard, still possessed of the bandages that had flowed off Ichigo's Shikai, wrapping around his arm, some slack just under his forearm and the end tied off just under his elbow, the left over slack flowing behind him softly.

"Kyoka Zangetsu."

"That's your Bankai? That tiny thing?" Byakuya spoke incredulously, his eyes wide in disbelief as he took in the blade that resembled a sealed asauchi, or even just a Shikai more than it could ever resemble the Final Release of a true Shinigami. "I don't know what this is boy, but it's not Bankai." He spat with vehemence.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night Kuchiki." Ichigo spoke softly, a second later, the tip of his sword was tickling Byakuya's neck. Blackish red energy dancing along the blade. "Tensa Sasapo."

"How…?" the Captain spoke eyeing the slowly fading after image Ichigo had left behind.

"I'll think you'll find Byakuya, that Zangetsu, is just full of surprises, now show me your Bankai, so I can destroy it." He smirked jumping away from the Shinigami, who sneered at him.

"You'll regret not slitting my throat when you had the chance boy. You want to see my Bankai so much, fine;" Dropping his sword he spoke the words, "Bankai, Chire, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." A sea of pink surrounding him, the 100,000,000 blades flooding towards Ichigo. "You have trampled on the pride of Seireitei and spat on our traditions. Before I kill you, I will make you beg for death Boy."

Watching the enraged Shinigami, Ichigo let out a smirk, swinging Kyoka Zangetsu behind him, reminiscent of how Zaraki had after loosing his eyepatch in their battle, a thin reddish black line tracing itself into the ground, the stone on the other side of the execution grounds, torn apart not a second later.

"Ready when you are, Byakuya Kuchki."

* * *

"Gin. It is time." a shadowed figure smiled, from a chair in the middle of a room of corpses, Ichimaru standing in the door way, permanent smile stretching just a little more.

"Well than, Aizen-Taicho. Lets go greet our guests, like the good hosts we are, ney?"

Standing from the chair and making his way towards the doorway, supposedly dead Captain of the Fifth Division, Sosuke Aizen smiled at his Lieutenant benevonantly. "Yes Gin. Lets."

* * *

**Well, that happened.**

**I know it isn't any kind of story progression and I apologize, but I felt the need to just rewrite this slightly (Or alot) to increase the quality and hopefully to bust through my plot block****. The main change is that Ichigo no longer has Dual Zanpakuto mostly due to the fact that I felt it was either double swords or Illusion, and Illusion is the whole point of this story. That's the biggest change except for the new content and added scenes.**

**At any rate, tell me what you think of the new direction, all comments are appreciated, even if I don't get around to replying to you, I still read every review. Honest.**


	2. Betraying the Fiction

Ichigo barely had time to blink before a veritable sea of pink rushed towards him, hungry to drown him in its depths.

Not wasting a second, he stormed towards the oncoming tide, moving faster than he'd ever done before, Kyoka Zangetsu tearing at the tendrils that burst away from the main body of pink and attempting to ensnare him, the force of each swipe ripping them apart before they even had a chance.

"Fool." Byakuya's voice intoned, his hand level with his eyes and clenched down in a fist. "You are already dead." The sea stilled spiraling down into a dome that ensnared the Orange Haired boy, hiding him from view.

"Perfect." Ichigo whispered, blurring into nothingness as he whispered through the quickly closing gap in Senbonzakura's judgement, the hole snapping shut as he faded out of view, and flashed into existence behind the Captain in a manner not dissimilar to what he had done with Urahara when he'd first obtained his Shikai, a black a red crest of power circling his blade. "Getsuga-"

Byakuya spun around at the attacks beginning, eyes widening as he took in Ichigo's presence right at his feet, hands directing Senbonzakura to take out the immediate threat, but it was too late for him.

"-Tensho."

* * *

The soft steps echoed throughout the chamber as Aizen and his Lieutenant strolled through the empty chamber, Hinamori Momo's still warm blood staining their footprints into the polished tile. Pausing quickly, but not at all clumsily, Aizen stared up at the diminutive figure of Toshiro Hitsugaya, smiling sadly at the expression of shock etched onto his features.

"Ah, Toshiro. We weren't expecting you so soon." Aizen offered an apologetic grin as Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of the Tenth Division and youngest soul to ever be named as such. "If we knew you were going to be early, we would have cleaned up a little."

"Aizen... You aren't dead. How?" The white haired Captain spoke, disbelief dripping from his voice. Oh yes, Aizen did so enjoy that confusion he instilled in his enemies. But there would be more than enough time for that later, for now he had a schedule to keep, and unfortunately for him, the young Captain was in the way.

"Now, now Toshiro. Is questioning me really the best use of your time right now? I don't think she'll last long without medical attention, but I'm not a medic, so what would I know." He smiled softly with a dismissive shrug.

"Who are you talking about?" Hitsugaya demanded, eyes turning hard much like the ice that flowed through the boy's Zanpaku-to. "Answer me Aizen!"

Gesturing over his shoulder and into the small antechamber beyond the Central 46's main hall, he didn't even flinch as the young Captain sped past him in a flash of Shunpo, his smile only growing crueler as the boy let out an agonizing howl of pain and anguish moments later.

"Uh oh Cap'n, seems he found her." Gin chuckled as a blast of Presence came rushing through the room as Hitsugaya came stalking out into the main hall, Hyorinmaru held across his body.

"To be fair Gin, we weren't exactly trying to hide young Hinamori from him." Aizen replied calmly as the young Captain's Presence continued to sky rocket, patches of ice actually becoming visible around him.

"Aizen, I'm going to kill you now."

"Oh, are you now? By all means, you are welcome to try." He invited as Toshiro called out Bankai, ice completely cocooning the young boy, forming the silhouette of a dragon around him, wings and all before vanishing in a blur of shunpo, his sword impaling the brown haired Captain straight through the chest. "Daigurren Hyorinmaru, the most powerful Ice Type Zanpaku-to to manifest itself in the history of the Soul Society." Aizen choked out though a mouthful of blood. "I always do enjoy the snow, especially out of season."

"Yes." Toshiro nodded. "You've said as much before Aizen, enjoy the ice while you can. This is where you die, Traitor."

"No, it really isn't."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened as the man who had been impaled on his sword faded into nothingness, his eyes transfixed on the event even after it had finished. "After all." Aizen's voice spoke from behind him, bloodied Zanpaku-to in hand. "There is a reason my machinations have stayed secret for so long."

And the young Captain could do nothing but fall as his body finally registered the countless slices that had faded through it, blood flowing from his wounds like a fountain as he slapped against the unforgiving concrete.

"Pretty brutal Captain." Gin spoke after a minute of silence, as they continued their way up and out of the chambers of the 46. "One might think you didn't like the kid."

"I liked him well enough Gin, Toshiro was always an interesting person. A fantastic conversationalist for his age." He affirmed, wiping the boy's blood off of Kyoka Suigetsu and onto the sleeve of 0his Captain's Haori. "But one cannot afford to show mercy to their enemies, no matter how much they like them."

"Like I said Cap'n, brutal." the silver haired man chuckled before swinging his gaze onto the stairs. "Well, well. Aren't we popular today Cap'n?"

Eyes soft and welcoming, a sad smile on his face Aizen nodded. "How may I help you, Captain Unohana, Isane?"

Emerging from the shadows stepped the Captain of the 4th Division and the greatest medic the Soul Society had known, Retsu Unohana laid her eyes on her compatriots, sadness and disapproval clear in her eyes. "To think, of all people, you would be the one to betray us so absolutely. What have you done, Sosuke?"

Aizen just smiled, offering no reply.

After a beat of silence, Unohana sighed, drawing her Zanpaku-to from her hip. "So be it."

* * *

Ichigo bit back a cry of pain as a wave of miniature blades scored themselves across his back, replying to the Kuchiki's assault with a sweeping Getsuga Tensho, disappearing into a blur of bandages as he whispered onto the ruined remains of the Sokyoku execution block, Zangetsu biting into the white stone as he fell to a knee to catch his breath. Noticing that the Captain had evaded his Getsuga, he added a shunpo into his Sasapo as he vanished and reappeared in front of Byakuya, before whispering out and behind him again, the Shunpo he had added into his initial whisper pushing the afterimage forward for a bit as if it were still him, a torrent of petals sweeping through it as Ichigo's blade bit through the man's unprotected back, the Captain flashing away in a burst of Shunpo, reappearing 10 paces away.

"Impressive, Ichigo Kurosaki." The Captain conceded with a nod. "It seems I underestimated your capability to a large degree and your Bankai even more so. It is no less deadly than my own, no matter how small."

Smirking, Ichigo offered a quirk of his head. "Thanks. I think."

"But I must end this quickly, the more time I spend dealing with you, the more time the criminal has to escape."

"The criminal?" Ichigo growled, grip on Zangetsu tightening. "She's your sister! And you can so easily dismiss and dehumanize her?"

"She has been found guilty, tarnished the name of Kuchiki. It is as simple as that." Byakuya replied calmly. "And for you, a mere human, to question our laws and our way of doing things is nothing more than blinding arrogance."

"Arrogance?" Ichigo repeated.

"Yes, arrogance. You and your little invasion force are nothing more than a joke, Kurosaki, and your death shall be the punchline. Shūkei." (_Final Scene)_

The restless sea of pink that was Senbonzakura stilled for an instant, before flashing with an eerie white glow, collapsing and coalescing onto the bloodied Captain, two wings shaping themselves onto his back, joined together by a narrow half circle. A lance flashing into life over his right hand. "Hakuteiken.**" **(_White Imperial Sword)_

"Impressive, I have to say Zangetsu doesn't have anything nearly that flashy, I'm almost jealous Kuchiki." Ichigo chuckled, red and black Presence erupting around him before wrapping around his sword, the invisible hum of his swords deceptive nature filling his veins in a shared elation. "Almost."

* * *

"Round two." Yorouichi chuckled from opposite her old student, cracking her knuckles in glee. "You ready for this, my Little Bee?"

The Captain of the Second Division let out a snarl as her Shikai shimmered into life on her right hand, golden point glinting dangerously in the mid morning light. "You will die today Shihoin. Are you ready for that?"

Letting out a chuckle, the Flash Goddess shifted into stance, hand beckoning the younger woman. "Bring it, Soi Fon."

The young woman who had replaced her as the Captain of the most demanding and laboured Squad within the 13 Court Guards streaked fowards in a blur of black, white and gold, Suzemubachi launching forward in precise calculated strikes, all inter spaced with kicks and jabs of her non-bladed limbs, not a motion wasted and not a strike pulled, pride rushed through Yorouichi's heart at the skill her student had taken on since her abandonment of the 13, only to quickly shelve it as she was forced to hastily block a jab from Suzemubachi, barely stopping what would have been a lethal hit, but still letting her protoge draw blood and mark her skin with her crest.

"What's wrong _Lady_ Shihoin?" Soi Fon mocked, spitting out the honourific with obvious disgust. "Have you gotten slow in your old age? Or maybe you've just forgotten who and what you should be?"

"My, what big words you have."

Snarling at the glib response, her Captain's Haori disintegrated around her shoulders and the small of her back, white energy snaking down her arms and erupting off of her back. "Then maybe I should reeducate you with my newest technique!"

* * *

"I must say I'm surprised that you managed to find a hint of suspicion within my death." Aizen began conversationally, drawing his own sword and leveling at Unohana, almost like a rapier. "What gave me away?"

Parrying the sudden lunge as Aizen and his sword streaked through the air, Retsu returned with a basic horizontal slash but feinting into an upwards slash, tracing a thin red line across the man's face. "It was the circumstances surrounding your supposed death actually, it was far to quiet and clean for the assassination of a Captain class Shinigami, especially one of your prowess Sosuke."

Wiping away the blood, the traitorous man leveled his fingers towards her, a white flash of lightening streaked towards her, only missing narrowly as she stepped to the side. "But that could not have been enough, after all you had a dead body, one identical to me."

"Yes, and every time I examined it I couldn't find any discrepancies, it was too clean and yet, it wasn't." She bit out in frustration as she was forced to contort in a way that made her seem almost inhuman. "Then finally, during the chaos that the rescue of Rukia Kuchiki, I felt my suspicion triple, all of it almost being to convenient." Steel rang out as she talked, both combatants not giving an inch. "I'm sure you can understand my surprise to find the apparent body of Sosuke Aizen dissolving into nothing more than ash. Obviously your control over the constructs form wore out, unfortunate timing I wouldn't you say?"

It started out silent, the shaking of his shoulders portraying assumed anger, but she knew better, she had lived to long to not recognise it, and as his arrogant chuckles erupted into full blown laughter, she had to ask. "Something you would like to share with the class Sosuke?"

He shook his head, his, laughter dying somewhat as he wrestled it down to nothing, his eyes taking her in pityingly. "I am impressed, do not misunderstand that Captain Unohana, truly you are the finest mind among the current Captains of the 13 Court Guards." Flipping his Kyoka Suigetsu into a reverse grip, held level with his eyes he smirked. "But even in the end, the smartest of the 13 is still less than me."

"Your arrogance knows no bounds child, allow me to reign it in." the words came out glacial, almost offended, as she muttered 'Shimasu' her sword glowing green and dissolving into a fine mist which swirled around her and solidified to resemble a snake, although it bared feathers in place of the expected leathery scales, four magnificent wings unfurled behind the two. "You will not win this day Sosuke, no matter what delusions you may entertain to the contrary."

Laughing again, he uttered the three words that would seal her defeat and that had, over more than a century, guaranteed his victory. "Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu."

And in the span of a second, he was gone, Isane was collapsing in a mass of blood and bone, Minazuki erupted in a scream of pain and presence, folding back into the sword it had once been and she felt herself begin to fall, her left arm strangely missing.

"I meant to tear your body in half." Aizen's voice cut through the slowly encroaching darkness that was beginning to ensnare her absolutely. "But it seems I underestimated your Zanpakuto's resilience. For that, I will not kill you, Unohana. For finding enough doubt in my World, I will give you a fighting chance. Farewell Captain, next time I see you, I will not show such mercy."

And then the pitch claimed her.

* * *

Aizen gazed down at the bloodied and broken body of Retsu Unohana, Captain of the Fourth Division and the Premier talent in Medical Kido in the last half a century of the Seireitei. What many failed to credit was that, even alone, the Woman could match both Captain's Ukitake and Kyoraku in a pitched battle and against just one of them alone could force the men into Shikai with very little effort.

Against a fighter like that, in a fair battle, Aizen knew he could have never stood against her toe to toe for long and, as she released her sword's initial release, it was either he take her by suprise then, or risk that incredible mind of hers figuring out just what was wrong with the picture in front of her, enough time to realise exactly why her strikes weren't drawing blood in the correct ways or just why a strike that should sever bone barely scratched it.

It was the danger about fighting against a truly experienced medic, of which he was not one, so, deciding to do the smart thing, he triggered the trick and cut her down in her shock.

offering a final nod of respect, he spun to his Lieutenant, nudging little Kotetsu Isane's corpse with an almost childlike amusement he let out a small cough. "Having fun Gin?"

The silver haired man turned his unearing gaze and eternal smile towards him. "Neh, we going then?"

Nodding in reply, a spiral of bandages erupted into life around the two. Moments later no trace of their presence remained except for 2 dead Lieutenants and two near dead Captains of the 13 Court Guards.

* * *

The black and red lance of a Getsuga tensho scattered a stream of Senbonzakura's blades to the winds as Ichigo came charging through the lingering energy as his black blade swiped out at an already in motion Byakuya only to fade into nothingness as Kyoka Zangetsu traced a deep trench trough the Captain's back, a deep crimson smear already soaking into the ground as an arm of pink came surging in on the elusive Substitute Shinigami only to fall through air once more.

"What's wrong Kuchiki? You're so slow today, it's like you aren't even moving at all." A gaggle of Ichigo's mocked, circling the bloodied man in a blur of black and orange. Sasapo and Shunpo enhanced speed actually leaving behind solid, tangible reflections in his wake for seconds at a time.

Not that he had escaped without his own fair share of wounds, Byakuya being a Shinigami of comparable skill and decades, maybe even centuries, of experience at his back and in his confidence Ichigo had lost mobility in his left arm due to a mistimed reappearance, getting caught up in a surge of angry petal like blades. But, compared to the numerous gouges and tracks the Rukia's Substitute had left on his opponent's body, he felt as if he was still, at least, breaking even against the man.

"Come on Byakuya. My banter doesn't work if you refuse to respond, at least try and make your ass kicking a little more interesting." He piped at the Captain's continued stoicism.

"Why?"

Blinking, Ichigo just quirked a brow, gesturing for the man to continue.

"Why do you struggle so hard for a woman you barely know?" Byakuya almost spat out in broken haste. "How can she possibly have garnered such loyalty from you in such a short amount of time?"

Staring hard at the man, almost feeling sorry for his absolute confusion, the teen shouldered Kyoka Suigetsu, reaching an upturned palm towards the Captain. "Answer for an answer Kuchiki. Rukia is your sister, you've obviously known her far longer than I have. So with that in mind, let me ask you something Byakuya Kuchiki." At this point the boy was almost spitting, bitter disgust and anger tinting his voice. "How the hell can she_not_ have _your_ loyalty?"

The stoic Captain merely looked at him, Senbonzakura's form buzzing behind with like leaves on the wind. "She has broken the law, been deemed a criminal by the highest authority in the land. You would have me ignore that?"

"I would have you be a goddamn brother and argue her side." Ichigo snarled back, several mirror images spluttering into a quick existence as his presence burst out in time with his anger. "I would question how her giving me her power so that I wouldn't die, so that I could save my sister's lives, can possibly be labelled a criminal action. I would have you stand by her side as the blade came swinging instead of being the one swinging the blade!"

"You look at things so simply, as if we are governed by the same laws as those who are still among the living, the same laws that you yourself live by. But we are Shinigami, I am a Kuchiki. We are not the same Kurosaki, no matter how much this concept seems to confuse you, and by insisting otherwise is an insult to the 13 Court Guards, an insult to the Soul Society and, most egregiously, an insult to _me_." The wings of Hakuteiten flaring in timber with the barely contained anger in the black haired man's voice. "Now tell me, tell me why you would risk death for a woman you've not known 3 months!"

"It's simple." Ichigo replied, anger raging in his eyes. "Because she's my friend."

And with a burst of pressure and a howl of rage from Ichigo, the two juggernauts moved, blades hungry for each other's blood.

* * *

**And there's the Chapter two rewrite finished. we're getting there, Oh boy are we getting there.**

**Drastic changes compared to my previous version, for one I've just killed off both Hinamori and Isane off screen, one because Isane is boring and two because I don't think I could truly portray Momo's crapsacchrine state of mind with the vicious reality that I'm aiming for here.**

**Also, will Unohana and Hitsugaya survive? Maybe, probably in fact. But their current on the bench status means massive changes for the immediate future as well as the distant one at that.**

**Where am I going with this? Who knows, stay tuned for chapter 3. Jordan Out.**


	3. Small Talk

_Bleach is not mine, ownership rights are deferred to the great and venerable Lord Tite and the Dukes and Ladies of Viz Media and TV Tokyo  
Please accept my humility as a substitute for legal Sodomy._

**Chapter Three - Small Talk  
**

Hakuteiken, struck against Getsuga enhanced steel once more as both Kurosaki and Kuchiki struck out at each other once more, the time for words past.

A look passed between the two as they flickered out of their respective high speed techniques as one, each knowing that the next charge would end it, the fight having dragged and strained their bodies beyond the limits of which they could handle. Stepping towards each other, they each had to pause mid stride, as a heavy presence imprinted itself on the area, two figures dressed in the same white Haori's that Byakuya had been wearing before Ichigo had torn it to shreds, stepping out of a whirlwind of bandages.

The Captains of the Third and Fifth Divisions had entered the fray and, from the presence of the silver haired man alone, Ichigo knew that he was well and truly screwed.

* * *

_Zangetsu roared as Ichigo came flickering in and out form every conceivable angle, Getsugas roaring, steel biting and all he could wonder was just how the hell the silver haired man was deflecting every strike with such unbelievable ease._

_"You ain't half bad Ichi, God knows my Lieutenant could stand to learn a thing or two from ya." He drawled, slapping Zangetsu to the side with his bare hand before planting his fist straight in the young human's gut. "But ya need to understand Ichi, that while you might be able to stand up to the likes of Kaname or even ickle Toshiro, against me;" He grabbed Ichigo by the scruff of the neck, pulling him in close with a twisted smile. "Against the comin' shit storm ya goin' to need ta be a hell of a lot better." And he launched the boy through a wall, possibly two, Ichigo couldn't too rightly recall, the pain of having a building collapse on him a little distracting._

_"Honestly, from what I'd heard I expected better, you've been hyped up around the company break room as kind of a big deal." He had? By who? Byakuya had been nothing but dismissive of him and he was sure that renji disregarded him as nothing but a rookie who had gotten lucky, so who did that leave? Rukia the convicted criminal? Sure, why not?_

_"Come on Ichigo, don't tell me that was enough to put you down." No, it really wasn't, but he had to think and consider his next move. He had been slinging Getsuga around like he was handing out candy, vanishing in and out of Sasapo hoping for an opening that had never come, hoping to disorient his opponent in the chaos._

_That had been a spectacular failure. In fact, he'd still yet to land a decent hit on the man. "Not gonna come out on ya own? You're boring Ichi, guess I'm gonna have to end this then. Shoot to Kill…" Well, if that wasn't a call for the now or never, ichigo really didn't know what was, flaring his presence to scatter the rubble, a Getsuga bursting to life as the man's Shikai was unleashed, the florescent white blade extending at the same moment, slicing through the attack like it was paper, only to strike nothing as Ichigo had vanished only to reappear in a burst of incandescent blue and white, hand snapping onto the Shinigami's face, slamming the man into the ground and leveling Zangetsu at his prone neck._

_"Ya won't do it." Ichimaru observed, smiling. "Ya can't do it."_

_"And how would you know fact one about me?" Ichigo growled, Zangetsu's tip pressing into the man's neck, drawing blood._

_"I can see it in ya eyes, the fear and hesitation. Hollows are one thing, sure they look twisted enough that you can disconnect the fact that they were human once. But with me, with any Shinigami really, you can't see anything but. To you we aren't just Shinigami, we're human. Just. Like. You." He drawled out, words wrapping around Ichigo's ears like snakes. "And that is possibly the worst thing you can do because trust me, we ain't. We are the furthest thing from human you could possibly meet, even more so than Hollows, I can promise you that."_

_Growling viciously, Ichigo swung Zangetsu up. "Ya see, you just don't have the ston…" Only to bring him crashing down on the Silver Haired man's sword arm, severing muscle and bone, eliciting a howl of pain. "Wha… I don't… argh, I don't get this." He stammered, left arm clutching his now bloody stump, Ichigo looking away pointedly._

_"Don't make any mistake Shinigami. I might not be willing to kill you, but if it comes down to my friend's lives or yours, there's just no contest," Shouldering Zangetsu, he vanished in a slowly dissolving blur of lingering Sasapo. "When it comes right down to it Ichimaru, I will do anything for my friends."_

_Smirking through the pain Ichimaru muttered. "We'll just see, won't we?"_

* * *

Sliding back with all of the fear of a cornered rat, Ichigo slipped back so that all three Captains were in his line of sight. "What's wrong Ichigo?" Gin Ichimaru started with a genial smile. "Ain't ya happy to see us? Guess not." he sighed turning his attentions to the glasses wearing man behind him. "Wasn't Tousen supposed to be here by now?"

"Have patience Gin, we are not so pushed for time with everybody's attentions spread so far and so thin." He replied, smiling benevolently, or at least that was the mood that Ichigo picked up on, only it felt wrong, almost as if it was forced. "For now, I think we can spare some time for explanations, after all, it seems you have a few questions you'd like to get off your chest, Captain Kuchiki."

Only now did he really notice the way Byakuya's hands were shaking, his eyes widened into something similar as when Ichigo had let loose all the power of his Bankai. It was a blanket disbelief, but unlike earlier it was mixed with something else, something far more primal that Ichigo had retreated into with the appearance of the two new arrivals.

Terror. Pure unrestrained terror and, for some reason, it wasn't directed at Ichimaru.

"I suppose we'll start with the obvious, I am not dead simply, because I never was." And then he understood Byakuya's fear. This was a man who had made himself appear dead to the entire might of the 13 Court Guards, the orginization that handled every last aspect of death and the threats that roamed at it's fringe. To be able to pull that off with such ease and grace was monumental and, to the mentality of the Shinigami who believed their will the bar and their decisions never wrong, it had to truly strike at something alien inside of them. "It was all just a trick, a sleight of hand I prepared in hopes of not having to compose myself like a desperate beast in the coming occurrences, as it was I was only to have an audience of 3 for this next part, but it appears young Kurosaki is far more tenacious than even I gave him credit for."

"Stop with the doublespeak and answer me Aizen." Byakuya almost growled, for all the way he composed himself he may as well have been screaming at the top of his lungs. "Why the deception?"

Shaking his head, as if talking to a toddler the brown haired man, Aizen, chided the man softly. "Soon Byakuya, but you must be patient. When Kaname returns with our young delivery girl all will be made clear, and I will hear your objections. But for now, shall we not merely enjoy each others company? Trade stories and get to know one another more intimately? For instance, I find myself ever intrigued by the human who achieved the pinnacle of Shinigami power not even 6 months into his discovery of those same said powers, the boy that can match Captain class Shinigami and forced the fearsome Grand Fisher into retreat." Conversation and attentions shifting suddenly onto him, three sets of piercing eyes focused on nothing else. "The boy who managed to take even my most trusted Lieutenant's arm with such vicious resolve?"

Swallowing a hitch in his throat Ichigo slid Kyoka Zangetsu back, the black and white blade's surface shimmering almost as if it were reflecting a rippling tide. "What's to know? You've already summed up my greatest hits, what more is there?"

"Distract the enemy, keep him talking and try to evaluate a method of escape. A tried and true strategy, if not a little cliched, although still one far more commendable than blindly charging and dying like a fool. It makes me sad that you were never a Shinigami inducted through the 13 Courts, I would've made you something amazing." Aizen let out a wistful sigh. "Alas, we don't always get we want. But I hope you know, young Kurosaki, that killing you is an action that I will not enjoy."

"Kill me?" Ichigo laughed. He really couldn't help it, the stress of the day, the ever present bite of his Senbonzakura wounds and finally the whole pile of hell just loaded down at his feet, it was tricky not to just laugh, eying Byakuya quickly, he noted that the man had taken on a look of incredulity, maybe a little pity as he took in, what he must have assumed to be the young human's mind shattering into a million tiny pieces, even Ichimaru looked at him with a frown of worry, how messed up was that?

But Aizen? he just kept smiling eyes gentle and soft as Ichigo continued laughing. "How messed up is this?" Stammering though the laughter. "15 years old and I'm about to die... in a world that isn't even mine?" shaking his head, he stared at the brown haired man, he shifted his feet, Zangetsu thrummed in his hands and he growled. "Don't think I'm going to make it easy for you though. You want to kill me Aizen? You are goddamn going to have to work for it."

He sighed once more, eyes closed in pity. "I'm afraid young Ichigo..." He began, as the orange haired human ran towards him in a flash of Shunpo, six other Ichigos springing into life around him. "You just aren't capable of that." And turning on the heel, with a speed that shadowed even Byakuya and maybe even Yoruichi, he ignored the six illusory Ichigos and caught the blade of the real one, just reappearing out of a Sasapo at the brown haired man's back as he had done so many times before against so many other people, resting the razor edge against his index finger. "You got predictable Ichigo. Lesson one, never be predictable." And in a burst of pain, Ichigo felt his body split open and the last thing he heard before darkness claimed him was his name, screamed out by a familiar voice.

* * *

**Is it just me or is there alot of homoerotic subtext in some of my prose here?**

**So we're three chapters into the rewrite and with one more to go before a brand new chapter all together I'm finding myself much happier with this than I ever was with the first posting of it.**

**Till next time, later homies.**


	4. The Reality of Death's Own Nature

**Chapter Four  
The Reality of Death's Own Nature**_**  
**_

_Bleach is not mine, s'all part of the Kubo Tite Empire, just like Zombie Powder  
But, we're all forgetting that Zombie Powder ever happened, aren't we?  
_

* * *

"Just put me down Renji, take me back!" she cried from his arms, body limp from weeks spent locked behind Pressence dulling stone, muscles even unable to handle the strain of the energy holding the Seireitei together. "Just take me back... please."

"Take you back? Yeah sure, maybe I should just kill you myself, I'm sure that would just be much easier on you." Renji replied, almost scathingly.

"Renji..."

"Tch, honestly. Stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about those who care about you." He bit back, still running, not breaking his stride. "What do you think it would do to Captain Ukitake if his Lieutenant elect was to die so ignobly?"

Eyes widened, her head shot up with wide eyes. "Bu... But I'm not even seated, why would he do that?"

"Because you idiot, your unseated nature is a technically, one pushed foward by Captain Kuchiki. He sees your skill and, after him, you're the strongest Shinigami in Squad 13."

Rukia's eyes widened. "Strongest...? but I'm not even a seated officer..." She stammered weakly, but she knew that was just a technicality, her brother having held her back from advancing in the past, ashamed of having an adopted Kuchki rise through the ranks quicker than many of those who had been part of the household their entire lives.

"Idiot." He laughed not unkindly. "Stop doubting yourself and just let me save you already." Curling softly into his grasp she did exactly that.

-/-

Aizen sighed looking down at the extraordinary human splayed out on the ground paying no mind of the wailing scream. "Oh well. Time to work I suppose."

-/-

They ran for a little while longer, never stopping the few officers, seated or otherwise, didn't stop them, Renji's ranking freezing them in confusion, even if he was carrying a convicted criminal.

"Hey Renji?" Rukia asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Did you really mean what you said, that I was Lieutenant Level?"

"There is no 'was' about it Rukia. Of course you couldn't hope to stand against me..." He trailed off with a smirk.

"Excuse me?" Rukia snarled icily.

"Well now that I've acheived Bankai, I don't really think its anything of a contest really."

"Oh please, as if your Bankai would be anything more than a glorified club."

"What was that? I don't think I heard you over all of the rescuing!"

"As if I needed rescuing! I just didn't want it!" She screamed punching him hard in the arm, elliciting a yelp of pain from the red haired man. Unfortunately for her, this also resulted in her being dropped as the momentary pain slipped Renji's grip.

"Now, you see what you went and did?" He smirked as she pushed herself out of the dirt, an indignant expression spreading across her face.

"What I did? You were the one who dropped me!"

"And it was your fault wasn't it?" He returned with a strained smile, hand splayed across her head.

"I will murder you!" She yelled, batting his hand away before she broke out laughing, the sound eliciting a resounding laugh from Renji as well. "Look at us, yelling at each other while everyone else fights just to get me away."

"Like old times right?"

"Little bit."

"Heartwarming." A third voice interrupted, drawing their attention around. "But I'm afraid I must ask you to hand Miss Kuchki over to me, Abari." Captain Kaname Tousen requested, Captain's Haori now where in sight, Zanpakuto in hand.

-/-

"Neh, what took you so long Tousen?" Gin cackled over at the man who stood beside a distraught Rukia, her eyes locked on Ichigo's bloodied and mutilated body, silent tears streaking down her face. "You can't honestly say that Abarai of all people gave you trouble?" He continued, gesturing to the broken form that lay next to her.

-/-

"Captain Tousen..." Rukia muttered, her stance tensing. "Renji, we can't match him, we aren't suited to fighting a Captain of his skills."

"I know." He replied, hand tensing around Zabimaru's hilt. "Can you fight?"

Swallowing a hitch in her throat, she reached into herself, touching the familiar well of power that was her Zanpakuto. _'It took you long enough.' _Her Zanpakuto's voice echoed within her mind and, in a swirling of snow, a blade made of ice formed itself in her hands. "I can."

Smiling warmly, Renji stared towards Tousen with a stone expression. "Let's do this then." In a flash of speed he'd been cultivating for years in order to challenge the skills of his own Captain, he burst forth. "Howl, Zaimaru!"

The slender steel instantly morphed into a wide wedge of steal, wicked looking steel teeth trailing the blades edge. With a heave of his arm and a cry of challenge, he whipped it around, the wedged sword loosening and extended as it revealed its true nature as more of a flail than blade. It streaked forward, faster than Rukia remembered. _'Much faster, was he really just boasting or has Renji actually acheived Bankai?'_

A ring of steel on steel rang out as Zabimaru struck against the Captain's now drawn Zanpakuto. "Pathetic." Parrying Renji's sword and throwing of his stance, the Captain ran forward into Renji's guard to strike him while the Lieutenant was off balance.

But there was a reason Renji was not only a Lieutenant but hailed as the Strongest of the 13 of them.

With a smirk, Zabimaru's form shimmered and shattered, the Red haired man's sealed Zanpakuto coming back into existence and with some of that new found speed of his, he deadlocked the Captain's strike. "Pathetic Captain?" Renji laughed with a smirk, lifting one hand of his sword and snaring the Captain's face in his grasp, red light burning bright in his palm. "Well, maybe a little bit. Shakkaho."

In a burst of fire and smoke, the area around the two erupted in Pressence. _'Damnit Renji.'_ Rukia thought with frustration. _'You suck at Kido, what was the point of that?'_

The point became readily apparent as Tousen leapt out of the smoke, running towards her with a single mindedness that scared her a little, his visor cracked and his face bloodied and burnt from Renji's attack. _'Maybe the idiot knew what he was doing after all.' _Side stepping a clumsy grasp, she smiled as a white glowing circle sprang into life beneath the attacking Captain. "First Dance, Tsukishiro." Although the stand-in blade of ice she had crafted lacked the sheer strength that her actual Zanpauto could offer, she could still use the powers of her blade, even if they were somewhat diminished.

Tousen only had a second to realise his mistake and register his surprise before he was ensnared in a solid pillar of ice.

"You think you could make a sign that would make it anymore apparent that you are right here?" Renji's voice came from behind her, the smoke disapating and his form coming into focus, Kimono's torso burnt away on the left, his hand hanging limply and burnt at his side. "Seriously, who else can do that?"

Rukia blushed. "Captan Hitsugaya could."

"Not that elegantly, sure he's tough and everything, but his ice is far less fancy than yours." Renji laughed quickly, before shifting into a more serious expression. "There is no way that should have been that easy."

"Can't you just enjoy a stroke of luck?" Rukia asked frustrated, but feeling exactly the same sense of dread.

"That tear in his chest, it looks deep." Renji commented, studying the frozen man, only just noticing the bloodied scar across his torso. "Hmm, why does it seem familiar."

With a burst of presence, a burst of purple flame burst from the ice striking Renji straight on and splaying him on his back with explosive force. "The reason you recognize it, is because I had a run in with your Barbarian of a former Captain Abarai." Tousen sneered, ice shattering around him. "Really, I survived Kenpachi and you, a student on his style of fighting think you can best me?"

"Next Dance, Hakuren!" Rukia shouted out from behind the man.

"Haien." the man muttered distractedly, purple light exploding against the flood of snow, melting it in a flurry of fire. "Honestly, just stop fighting." He muttered tiredly. "This is a fight you cannot win, Justice demands my victory."

And in a burst of bandages they disappeared.

-/-

"Cool story Tousen." Gin smirked, waving his arm flippantly. "But admit it, they gave you trouble."

Tousen went to answer, only to be knocked back by a blurred kick, Rukia's eyes widening as a torrent of pink swirled around her in a comforting spiral. "Lord Byakuya..." She muttered, eyes wide in disbelief. Was he... was he actually protecting her?

"I... should apologise Rukia..." he struggled out, looking quite uncomfortable, as if the words were new to him and, in a way, they were. "Let me handle this as... as a brother should." He spoke, eyes darting over to Ichigo's prone form as he spoke the words. "Abarai, stand up. You aren't done yet."

Rukia's eyes widened as Renji pushed himself up off of the ground. "Ah Captain, I was playing dead. Why did you have to go and spoil it?"

"Personally, I have had my fill of people playing dead." He said through grit teeth, Renji's eyes widening at the, till then, silent Aizen.

"Well, that is surprising." Renji had to admit with a quirked brow. "Captain Aizen, you wanna explain?"

"I could Renji." Aizen supposed with a tilt of his head. "I do not, however, believe you could understand it, not as you are."

"Heh, that's a nice way of calling me stupid."

"One should not forget manners Renji, even when talking with their enemies." Aizen postulated, Ichimaru and Tousen taking up honour guard in front of their Captain, both had their swords drawn.

"Rukia." Byakuya began. "You can cast Tenteikūra, correct?"

"Yes... I, I don't know if I can after being locked away for so long." She said unsure.

"You need to do it regardless." He said, Senbonzakura's Bankai springing to life around them, crowning the execution grounds in a wreath of blades. "We need the Commander and every other mobile Captain... bring your human friends as well."

"I don't know Lord Byakuya... I don't think I'm strong enough."

"You have to be or else we die here. Abarai."

"Ah, ready Captain."

Nodding Byakuya leveled his hand towards Aizen and his men, Hakuteitan springing around him anew. "And Rukia, for what it is worth. I am sorry."

As both Renji and Byakuya, bloodied and torn, sped towards the traitors, Rukia focused on her Reiatsu eyes closed. _'I can do this...'_ She assured herself before she began muttering. "Black and white net. Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns and belts. Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night, sea of clouds, blue line. Form a circle and fly though the heavens._" _With steel eyes snapping open, a web of ice frosted onto her arms and she completed the spell. "Bakudō 77. Tenteikūra." Instantly she felt her Presence spread out over the entirety of the Seireitei, each thread snapping into place with 8 Captains, 10 Lieutenants, 1 Exile and 3 Human Trespassers.

"This is Rukia Kuchiki..." She began, her faithlessness in herself disappearing as she watched Renji and Byakuya trade steel with Ichimaru and Tousen with vicious intent. "I know that in my position this is hard to accept but I am contacting you on the authority of Captain Byakuya Kuchiki. Sosuke Aizen is alive and he, alongside Captains Ichimaru and Tousen are currently battling Captain Kuchiki and Lieutenant Abarai and have already struck..." a hitch in her throat. "Struck down Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Tenteikūra Rukia?"a voice came from behind her, causing her head to spin as Aizen stood behind her, arm tinted green and lined with black crevices. "I don't remember you being able to cast this, but... that's fine, bring all the reinforcements you want, it is already to late." And his arm snapped forward, plunging through her chest and squeezing down on her soul itself.

And she screamed.

-/-

Kyoraku Shunsui did not like his current position in life, dodging torrent after torrent of volcano level flame was, after all, not a fun way to spend one's time, even if one had chosen this position of his own free will.

The fact that the man on the other end of the screaming flurry of hellfire was his Teacher and Military Leader did not make his position any more enviable.

Dodging a fresh torrent of flame, he spared a glance towards his friend and fellow student, Jushiro Ukitake, the burning sky being absorbed into one of his blades and then redirecting it with the other, Ukitake had a naive optimism splashed across his face, as if they could actually win. Kyoraku envied him that, they had a chance, sure. But the second that Yammamoto decided to unleash his trump card, and by god there would be a point where he would, and soon if this dragged on any longer, and at the mercy of the 13 Court Guard Commander's Bankai they would be able to do nothing but burn.

And then, through the despair hope came.

"You hear that Old Man, we've been betrayed and Rukia remains loyal even in..." And then her scream cut through the air, Ukitake's eyes went wide as his squad favourite's voice let out in fear and pain and he uttered a single word.

"Bankai."

And in a flash of power he was off, heading back towards the Execution Grounds, his Teacher's flames trailing behind him.

"You wanna take a time out and deal with this Old Man?" Kyoraku asked with a tentative smile.

The scarred man let out a laugh. "Your luck knows no end does it Shunsui?"

Bowing his head, he allowed himself a more genuine smile.

"Do not think you are off the hook for your actions boy, I will deal with you and Jushiro later."

Not off the hook? He considered not having to stare down Shuuryuobi no Kamirixyu well off the hook. "Thanks Kuchiki." He smiled at his teacher's quickly disappearing back, before leaping into line with his him and his fellow student.

-/-

At her scream, Renji and Byakuya's attentions were drawn behind them, the image of Aizen that had stood back and watched gone, faded into nothingness and the real Aizen elbow deep inside a hole through Rukia's chest. "Ah..." Aizen smiled happily. "There you are."

With a roar, Renji broke off from Tousen, Bankai racing towards Byakuya. "Captain, get on!" With a nod, Byakuya launched into the air with an eerie grace, landing softly on the bowed skeletal head of Hihio Zabimaru. With feral speed the large bone and stone flail charged Aizen, petals of pink spiraling around it.

"Amusing." Aizen smiled, wrenching his arm free of Rukia and tossing her to the side with a disinterested flick of his wrist. "Definitely one of the more forceful attempts on my life in the last few hours. Definitely the one that would have the best chance of working." A casual swing of his sword deflected a Hakuteitan fueled swipe from Byakuya before a bored gesture sent a white streak of Lightning crashing through Hihio Zabimaru's skull, the force of pressure contained within the bolt blasting the construct apart. "Gin, Kaname, remove him."

They burst towards him, Renji making a useless gesture at guarding, Shinso tearing through his gut and Susumushi, Tousen's Zanpakuto, slicing him from hip to shoulder. "Shit."

As he collapsed, Byakuya made one final attempt, desperate as it was, at Aizen's unprotected back. "Ichigo Kurosaki couldn't surprise me like this Kuchiki." He smiled, fading in a haze of nothing. "Did you honestly think you could, under the influence of my Zanpakuto as you are?" In a fountain of blood, the noble Captain impacted the ground in a bloody mess.

Just as reinforcements arrived.

-/-

Ichigo had only been to the horizontally positioned world of azure and skyscrapers that was the representation of his being twice. The first time it was slowly falling apart, glass shattering and concrete slowly collapsing as he came closer to closer to losing his mind and soul to the urges and destruction of a Hollow that always sat in the recesses of his Soul as a possibility of being upon the event of his death.

Something that had come scarily close to happening, if not for an off hand comment made by Uryu Ishida.

The second down, he had been cut down by a bloodthirsty Kenpachi Zaraki, a Captain of the 13 Court Guards, who had only really wanted to fight to the death. The world hadn't been crumbling that time, in fact it hadn't even shook. There he had been confronted by a disgruntled Zangetsu, apparently feeling somewhat ignored as even in the 10 days of downtime between his learning of his Zanpakuto's name and the day that he and his friends had stormed the world of the high and dead in a bid to save Rukia from an unfair fate.  
There, Zangetsu had taken away Ichigo's right of claim over his sword, leaving him with only a lifeless, no, soulless blade in his place. Handing his massive clever like blade off to a pitch white doppleganger with insane black and yellow eyes.

This, the third time, resembled the first time he had visited, broken and ruined, but paused, falling stone frozen in midair. Shards of broken glass sparkling in place, 100 feet in the air.

And in front of him, not with Zangetsu on his back but a white washed and inverted version of the massive blade, the doppleganger sat cross legged and leaning back, eyes locked on a falling building above them. "You know what I am Ichigo?"

"I have a guess." Ichigo admitted, a little disconcerted at the conclusion he had drawn. "You getting ready to break out?"

"Can't can I?" The whitewash chuckled bitterly, dragging himself to his feet like a puppet on strings. "Not anymore."

"Why not? That's what happens when someone dies violently like that isn't it? Their inner darkness comes forth as a vengeful beast of rage and chaos?"

"My, my. What a brush I've been tarred with." Shaking his head, the whitewashed copy sighed. "This ain't right Ichigo, I was so ready and willing... and then what do you go and do? You fucking die!" He screamed hysterically.

"It isn't like I planned it."

"Maybe not, but it was goddamn avoidable!" The copy yelled.

"So what?" Ichigo replied with a snarl. "I should have just let them kill me without even trying? Without even attempting to save myself?"

"Save yourself?" Disbelief thick in his voice. "You call that saving yourself? No. Saving yourself would have been retreating to regroup with all of your powerful friends at your back. What you did wasn't saving yourself _Kurosaki_." He spat Ichigo's last name like something foul, vanishing in a boom of sound reappearing, his Zangetsu clone swinging down. "Charging him without so much as a plan, it was fucking _suicide!"_ Steel clashed on steel as Ichigo parried the Clone's strike, only to feel his eyes widen as a ball of orange started charging on a pointed finger. "You _disgust_ me."

And with a resounding snap of rushing air and pressure, a Cero streaked through the air, Ichigo's Hollow letting out a resounding howl of anger as time restarted.

Ruin tearing through the world of Azure and Skyscrapers.

-/-

**Haha! Am I the king of fucking with cannon or what?**

**I had planned for this to be the last chapter of familiar ground, but it ended up just being too long so, with any luck, the Soul Society Arc should be wrapped up all nicely by next chapter.**

**And no, I will not be doing the Bounts. Boring arc.  
**

**Remember, drop comments, I prefer to hear your feedback over favouriting and Alerting... although feel free to do those to.**

**Till Next update, Jordan Out**

* * *

**New Section  
Terms I Introduce to the Lore  
**

**Shuuryuobi no Kamiriyu - End of Days Days Dragon God (Apparently)**

**Anything else you can find on the Bleach Wikia.  
**


	5. Declarism

**Chapter Five: Declarism **_**  
**_

_Bleach is not mine, it belongs to the Venerable Kubo Tite  
A Named Good Guy, Dead? Oh... its only Lieutenant Fancy? Nevermind Then.  
_

* * *

The rushing torrent of his Hollow's Cero surprised Ichigo, sure. There was no question.

It did not however freeze him.

With a now practiced swing of Zangetsu a Getsuga Tensho roared to life, impacting the orange death with a resounding explosion. "So what?" The Hollow howled reappearing at Ichigo's left, blue energy dancing across dull white steel. "I can do that too." Eyes widening, Ichigo took the full brunt of the mighty crest of energy, exploding as it made impact with him.

Streaking out of the dust and debris Ichigo skidded to a halt, shirt torn and burnt, only to let out a growl as 7 images of his Hollow sprang to life around him. "This was what I was willing to serve?" It asked, voice echoing as the Hollow moved again and again and again at impossible speeds to keep the clones looking solid. "Tch, pathetic."

"Pathetic?" Ichigo growled, Zangetsu leveling out behind him, parallel to the ground. "Let's see how you deal with this you cheap Two Dollar Knockoff, Bankai!" As a pillar of power sprung up around the human turned Shinigami, the sheer force of the boy's power forcing the Hollow to pause in his movement, images fading as he couldn't keep moving to renew them.

"I don't think you understand Ichigo, anything you can do;" He smirked, imitating the stance Ichigo had taken just moments ago. "I can do better. Bankai."

And in a more feral, more bloodthirsty wave of power, Ichigo's Hollow unleashed it's own Bankai.

-/-

She was quick.

No one could argue against that point with any kind of real belief, after all she was named the Goddess of the Flash. It was only natural that, mere minutes after Rukia had sent out her message of Aizen's betrayal, she had arrived, only natural that she would beat anyone else there.

And, as a former commander of Assassins and Spies, it was only natural that Kaname Tousen didn't even have time to register her lightning wrapped fist caving in his skull.

-/-

"Ah, Yorouichi Shihoin, I had heard you were here." Aizen smiled, sheathing his sword, and holding up his left hand, the item locked in his grasp on display for all to see. "I honestly believed it would be bigger, for what it is purported to be able to do but, as usual, Kisuke Urahara's genius is as surprising as always."

"Lady Yorouichi!" A voice cried out, as Soi Fon landed next to her former teacher.

"Hoh? She's reverencing you again Yorouichi?" Aizen chuckled, pocketing the orb with a twitch of his hand.

"We talked things out." The bronze skinned woman smiled back sardonically.

"I see, and you've deprived me of a Lieutenant as well..." Shaking his head sadly, the man turned to Gin. "Some people are just so rude."

Gin shrugged his solitary shoulder. "Can't be helped Cap'n, some people are just born bad."

Aizen went to reply, only to have himself cut off as the dual steel of Jushiro Ukitake's Zanpakuto rested their edges against his neck, a thrumming heat singing the rogue man's flesh. "Give me a reason Aizen." Ukitake actually growled. "Any reason."

"Gin?"

"Sorry Cap'n." Ichimaru replied with a wry tone. "He's kinda burning Bankai."

"Ah of course." Aizen nodded as if this explained everything. "The most defensive and offensive Shikai becomes the most non-intrusive and silent Bankai, absorbing power and, instead of redirecting it, as your Shikai does, it smothers you in an obscuring cloak and turns your skin to steel and your blades to diamond. That is the power of Same no Housoku." Because, as it was, it really did explain everything.

"Soi Fon, I don't sense Retsu making any sort of approach and I don't think we can afford to wait for her. If you could please check on our Officers of the Sixth, Miss Kuchiki and our uninvited guest." Ukitake asked kindly, getting her to nod, even if only grudgingly. "Yoruichi, its been too long. How have you been?"

"I think I was exiled, or something like that. I don't really pay attention when I should." Jerking her head towards a struggling Gin, who was attempting to make a move to attack, but instead found himself unable to move. "What do you want done with him?"

"Oh, just put him wherever, I'm not too fussed." He replied, Ichimaru falling face first into the dirt as soon as the words were out of the white haired man's mouth.

"Ow..." Ichimaru mumbled quietly into the dirt.

Ignoring him, Ukitake spun his focus back onto Aizen."Now, Sosuke. I'm not quite sure what you've been up to, or even just what you've done. I think we should all have a nice, _long, _talk. Don't you?"

As he finished speaking, a flurry of motion blurred the air, almost two dozen assorted Lieutenants and Captains and a handful of humans blurred into life atop the large hill that were dubbed Execution.

"Well, I'm not in any kind of hurry." Aizen spoke warmly. "Captain Yammamoto, you are looking well."

The aged General just stood calm and poised. "Sosuke Aizen... of everyone, you were the one person I could never imagine betraying our laws and rule."

"That was your first mistake, Commander." The man smiled, folded arms tensing slightly, as if he was grasping something within his sleeves. "As the last person you would expect to betray you, automatically you should have immediately assumed that I would have been the very first person to betray you and your archaic rule."

And in a burst of light, Ukitake was batted back in a burst of blood, his blades shattering. "Really, to think I would have to command the Hogyoku so soon..." Aizen sighed, inching forward. "Kaname, call them."

And as he ordered it, a growl escaped the corpse of the late Kaname tousen, only he wasn't a corpse anymore, he was barely human.

"He became a Hollow?" Soi Fon cried with surprise, how? Shinigami don't just _become _Hollow."

"No..." Yorouichi growled. "He didn't become one... he was turned into one."

Stepping forward, a small glowing orb floating above his hand with brilliant light, Aizen smiled. "I believe this is where I commit my fantastic escape."

Tousen howled and the sky cracked.

-/-

Black and white steel tore through the air, shaving the sky with vicious intent.

"When the hell did you get Bankai?" Ichigo demanded of his Hollow, a vortex of black and red spiralling itself off of his blade.

The Hollow caught the Getsuga in his hand, the energy pushing him back in a determined burst. "Don't understand it Ichigo?" The Hollow snarled, sleeve burning away as he held the Getsuga firm. "I got it at the same time you did!" And with a swipe of his hand and an orange glow, a Cero bit out towards a rapidly moving Ichigo who had attempted to attack from behind, the red and black of the Getsuga Tensho wrapping around the sickly orange beam. "Hmph, Aizen was right." The Hollow chided as Ichigo reappeared, blood streaking his face. "You've gotten predictable."

The boy turned Death God paused, straightening up head looking towards the angry grey sky. "Predictable huh... Yeah, I guess so." The sky broke and a torrent of rain collapsed from the sky, more and more buildings lost to the chaos of his death. "But you want to know something Hollow?"

"Oh, this should be good."

"Sometimes a little predictability..." And with a hazy smirk the Sasapo construct faded into nothing, a wet tearing squelch echoed through the air as steel bit into snow white flesh. "Isn't a bad thing."

-/-

The sky cracked with a vicious, uncanny snap.

"Garganta..." Ukitake muttered, supporting his bloody form on his now resealed Zanpakuto. "You have fallen so low Aizen?"

"Fallen?" the brown haired traitor laughed the howls of countless beasts baying for blood echoed around them. "I have not fallen Jushiro. I have risen up and put the Hollow in their place. I command them as a God and soon, I shall become so much more then that to not only them but to yourselves as well."

The entire contingent bristled, except the humans who were paying little to no attention. Wait... was that girl healing Kurosaki? "Hmm interesting..." He muttered as the sickly yellow light of Negacion slammed down around himself and Gin, Tousen just braying to the sky and calling forth his own. "As you may be able to see, by the light surrounding myself and my cohorts... my boasting is hardly empty. Young man, I suggest you don't." He said, talking to one of the humans who had begun charging the light, a gauntlet of sorts wrapping itself around his arm. "You cannot break into the world of Negacion and the consequences for trying are... not plesant." He said as the tall boy stopped and started, unsure abou taking him at his word.

"He speaks the truth Sado." Kyoraku interjected, a hand on his shoulder. "Only something born of a Hollow will be cracking that thing... it's a self contained dimension, cut off from everything but it's entrance and, trust me." He paused looking up at the writhing mass of Hollow's trying to claw their way into the Seireitei. "You don't want to even try with the kind of beasties up there."

The boy, Sado, nodded albeit grudgingly as his gauntlet faded away. "Sosuke Aizen!" Yammamoto announced. "You have been branded a traitor, a murderor and a conspirasist. You have been sentenced to death, how do you plead?" The scarred man growled, eyes open and blazing.

"How do I plead? Aizen snorted, ammused. "You talk like I should be answering to your Justice old man, as if I am or have ever been, any kind of loyal to you and your ways.  
"I do not plead anything but I do say this, if you want to try and take me on feel free. if you wish to see your petty 'Justice' ruled by all means, I will not stop you. But, if you should take up arms, if you should fight me I have but two words for you." Pausing, with eyes staring directly into the Commander's he finished. "Good luck."

And as the syallable finished a huge crest of black ad red tore into the negacion, cracking it ever so slightly.

With astonished eyes, he swept his gaze towards the group of human intruders, startled back as there, on a bended knee, Ichigo Kurosaki sat, Zanpakuto pulled back with red and black energy burning across the steel.

"Thanks..." He choked out tiredly eyes drooped but not looking at all dull. "But I don't need luck."

-/-

"Sunuvabitch Ichigo." The Hollow choked out, red blood staining his white skin. "How the fuck did you make such a solid Sasapo image?" His hands shook as he clawed at the blood stained black of Ichigo's Kyoka Zangetsu

."You kicked up to much dust Hollow." Ichigo practically gloated, the self satisfaction dripping off of his lips in waves. "It made it easy to hide and move around you and to hide the string of my Reiatsu tying myself to the image."

"You managed to snap you Reiatsu that perfectly?" It asked in disbelief but, also, with something a little akin to impression.

"Hardly, but with a single clone, and all of the dust cover, how could I not be able to pull it off?"

"Heh, looks like I underestimated you Ichigo..." The porcelain white skin began to crack and fade as it pushed itself off of Ichigo's sword. Turning with a stumble, it smiled. "Whats say I save our lives?"

And in a burst of power Ichigo felt a mask settle over his face and a name echo through his mind.

_'I'm Cazador de la Luna... congratu-fucking-lations, o King o' mine.'_

And the sky blazed blue

_-/-_

Pushing himself up with vicious effort, Ichigo's eyes spun onto the traitor and his lieutenants. "You aren't going to leave me alone, are you?"

"You are far to interesting to just be left to roam about Ichigo, I can see it in your eyes." He smiled thinly. "Something I tried to build and that Urahara has perfected... No, I will not be leaving you alone Ichigo Kurosaki."

Closing his eyes, Ichigo knew what Aizen had just done. Not only had his actions declared an obvious war of Shinigami versus Hollows, but he had, in the space of a single sentence, as good as declared war on Ichigo and his friends, dragging them into a conflict that was so stupidly not theirs.

With a nod, Ichigo turned away, his friends following them as Shinigami watched, Garganta snapping closed Aizen allowed himself a smile. _'Let us see, Urahara. Let us see just what your chosen Champion is capable of.'_

_-/-_

Standing in his slowly repairing world, Ichigo held his Hollow's mask in his hand, eyes tracking the vicious red trival markinfs that fell over the left eye like scars.

"What happens next, Zangetsu?"

"I do not know." The old man draped in black replied. Zangetsu, the embodiment of his Zanpakuto and constant watcher. "I do not believe that you will escape the coming conflict, in fact I fear that your involvement may be vital." He sighed, a hand clasping his Shinigami's shoulder. "Cazador fears it to, even if he would not admit it."

Nodding, Ichigo let the red and white mask fade into nothing, his body feeling infinitely tired, but... not as broken as it had been.

"I'm only 15 Zangetsu... how am I supposed to cope with this?"

"Just as you coped with your Mother's death. Just as you coped with taking on the new responsibillities that Rukia Kuchiki thrust onto you when she awakened your latent powers and, just as you decided you would rather storm a stronghold of decades and centuries old Shinigami, with nothing but 3 human friends and a cat as backup. All for the sake of a single friend.  
"You will do as you have always done, you will go to war for the sake of everyone except yourself." Pausing, Zangetsu turned his eyes to the now bright blue sky. "You will chase away everyone's sadness. Otherwise you would not be Ichigo Kurosaki and I would not be Zangetsu. It is as simple as that."

And with a final smile Ichigo's inner world faded away in a torrent of awareness.

-/-

**DONE! Holy Cheese Messiah I cannot believe that I have finally finished the whole damn rewrite of where I was up to initially.**

**Now I just have the entirity of Bleach's story to plow through...**

**FUUUUUUK!**

**As always, read, review and I shall reply as best I can. See you next time.**

**Jordan Out!**


	6. Interlude: Eight Sided Gathering

**Interlude.**

**Eight-Sided Gathering**

**-/-**

The halls of Los Noches didn't offer much in the way of comfort. In fact even the sterile white halls of a hospital would offer more in the way of merriment and cheer.

But then again, being a fortress constructed in the middle of a world selectively populated by murderous beasts, with no care for anything but their next meal, anything else would be somewhat out of place and incredibly disconcerting.

Within the miserable old fortress, almost within the center if such a thing would ever be measured here, stood a long and empty room, what could very easily be used as a dining hall. And within this hall 11 bestial figures were gathered, anxious and twitchy.

"Starrk…" A small, wolf like creature with red fire around one eye moaned, voice distinctly feminine. "You said he'd be here by now…"

A second wolf, much larger than the first and standing on two legs, as opposed to her four, placed a hand on her head. "Patience Lillynette, we've waited a long time now, we can wait a few more minutes."

A derisive snort echoed from further down the room. "Such pandering from the great and terrible Coyote Starrk; One might think you were merely playing at being strong." The voice's owner, a purple robed skeleton, stepped forward, the bone of his face somehow managing to stretch into a sneer.

"And if there is anything I despise more, it is pretenders to power."

"Would you just stow your ego for 5 minutes Baraggan?" Another voice sneered from against a wall, a distinctly feminine figure hidden behind skeletal armour, bearing a shark like quality. "We aren't the measly little ants you like to lord yourself over, we are all your equals in some way or another."

"Equals?" Barragann sneered. "I am the God King of Hueco Mundo! Time itself bows to my will, and you dare to call yourself my equal?!" He drew a wicked looking axe from his back. "Your life is forfeit." The skeleton launched itself across the room, axe swinging for the woman's head, the cheers and jeers of most of the other occupants driving the attack on.

Only for the God King's Axe to be stopped by Coyote Starrk's, open palm. "Calm down old timer, our Benevolent Dictator has arrived."

Eleven heads craned to the room's entrance, several shying back as they took in the new arrivals. Sosuke Aizen, Gin Ichimaru and…

"Holy shit…" The panther like Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez muttered. "The fuck happened to Tousen?"

It was a sentiment shared by most of the room, what had once been a Shinigami Captain now resembled some sort of deformed Demi-Hollow, as if he was stuck halfway between the transformation.

"Yes. Kaname's form does more resemble some of my... earlier experiments dealing with breaking the boundaries between Shinigami and Hollow." Aizen observed, Tousen's bug like eyes bulging in their sockets. "But then again, for a man who had his face caved in, he is looking remarkably healthy." The room stirred at that, nervousness and anxiety more than clear.

"Forgiving me for saying so Lord Aizen…" The squid like form of Szayelaporro Granz interjected through the unease, everyone else glad that they hadn't been the ones to do it. "But if this is a result of the Hogyoku… I think that I might prefer not to be touched by its power."

Aizen turned his head to the Hollow, a sad smile on his face as several others nodded their hesitant agreement. "An understandable case of nerves, I admit. Kaname's current form is not exactly one that would instil confidence in my abilities or the Hogyoku's own."

With an unseen shimmer, Syazel found his throat clasped by the Shinigami's iron grip. "But then again, I had only held the Hogyoku for mere minutes when I bought back Kaname…" The small hexagonal cube floated slowly towards the Squids Hollow, the hole where his chain of fate had once been rooted.

"Let us see what I can do, with a half hour."

And in a pillar of light, Szayelaporro Granz screamed.

-/-

_Playing With Reality_

_The Bloodiest Arc_  
_Coming September 2013_

_For Realsies, I Promise..._

**-/-**

**So yes. I'm aware that this is just a couple of paragraphs, but I wanted to throw it up just to prove that I have in fact been working on the fic instead of just leaving it to rot in the darkest, dankest, duldrums of dead fics on the site. Also that I do have a good idea on when I actually am going to start getting more material out for this. In fact, at this point, it's looking to be anywhere between 2 and 3 chapters a month, so a much more consistant rate then has been I'm sure.**

**Anyway, review if you want, I honestly don't think this enough material to be worth it, but hey. Each their own.**

See you in September. (Maybe earlier.)

Jordan Out


	7. BA-ONE: A Week After the Fact

**Playing With Reality**

**The Bloodiest Arc  
One: A Week After the Fact  
**

_Bleach is the Copyrighted property of Kubo Tite._

_Do I Have A Witty Snark for the Current State of the Manga? Why yes, yes I do._

_#Kubo._

_Come to think of it, that wasn't really that witty.  
_

_-/-_

Hot, burning pain.

That was the first thing Toshiro Hitsugaya experienced as he clawed his way out of unconsciousness. "Ah... you are awake." The second was the voice of Retsu Unohana welcoming him into the waking world.

"I... yeah I am." What had happened to him... His head was ringing, couldn't even hear Hyorinmaru too clearly. Turning to Unohana, he could not stop himself. "When did you lose an arm?"

She looked slightly bemused at that. "What is the last thing you remember?"

That was a fair question. What was the last thing he remembered? He had released his Bankai... Been rather angry at that point, but why had he been so angry? Aizen... Gin...?

Wasn't Aizen dead? No... he had faked it. Faked his death, proceeded to make the ice wielding Captain look like a fresh Academy Entrant and had... "No..." Soft, whispered. Almost inaudible. "Hinamori... she was cold, so cold..." And the blood, God... he hadn't known that someone could lose that much blood.

"Please..." He begged, almost psychotically, of the Fourth Division's Captain. "You saved me right? You would have been able to save her... Nothing but a scratch compared to her..." Of course he knew the answer before she had even bowed her head. Hinamori had been gone long before he had found her.

Momo Hinamori, his sister and best friend... Dedicated to Soskue Aizen forever and beyond even that. _'Maa, Captain Aizen is so cool! And when I graduate, I'm going to be in his Division Shiro, count on it!'_

The bed frosted over as the temperature in the room dropped. "I'm going to kill him." He growled, ignoring the stitches across his chest snapping under the force of his own spiritual pressure. "How were we so blind, how did he so completely fool all of us?"

Retsu let out a sigh, as a glowing green hand came to rest over Hitsugaya's open wound. "I do not know. Maybe it was sheer arrogance on our part, an unshakable faith in the idea that we know everything that happens under our domain." She paused in her assessment, a minute twitch of her lips betrayed a joke known only to her. "Maybe we just had too much faith in the idea of our camaraderie."

"Maybe..." He gritted in pain as the adrenaline of the moment wore away. "All I know is that he's a dead man."

Thinking on the mush that Insane Kotetsu, her own Lieutenant, Aizen had reduced her to, the utter tearing of her heart as she had stumbled across the bloody floor and taken in Isane's form...

Oh yes, she could more than agree with Toshiro's sentiment, but Aizen wouldn't die quickly, no. He would suffer at the hands of the greatest Kenpachi the Seireitei had ever seen.

-/-

A week had passed now, a week in which the Seireitei drowned in disorder and confusion. A week in which Yamamoto Genryusai realised just how old he really was.

Far to old some might say, and Yammamoto would be more than ready to agree with them. Pushing 2000 years of age, leading the 13 Court Guard Squads for such a long time had strained his soul to the point where he would really like to just retire, maybe find a nice little field out in the Rukongai and leave all the politics to the young ones.

Unfortunately, that idea was seeming more and more of a pipe dream with each passing day, the more likely outcome being that he would die in some battle somewhere, strongest Shinigami or not.

Although that moniker seemed a little false these days.

There was much to do and very little time to do it, if Aizen's claim to chasing Godhood could be believed, and quite frankly he wasn't sure if he would be alive to see the end of the declared war, hell. He wasn't even sure in their victory, not with Young Retsu's description of the real abilities lurking in the traitor's Zanpakuto.

But even so, what would come would come, and such worries were of a less immediate concern than that of the red-headed child standing in front of him.

The boy's shoulder's hunched, his right foot tapping impatiently against the floor. If not for the sharp and constant eye contact that the boy was holding with him, Yammamoto might have assumed the boy was treating his situation with nothing stronger than disinterest.

As it was one of his own was not so against assuming so, but with a sharp glance, Soi Fon stayed her tongue. Ah such loyalty to the Guard in that one, but sometimes such loyalty spurred on foolishness. Her predecessor's own to Kiskue Urahara being a prime example of such.

And wasn't there a face he had never expected to see in this office again, Yorouichi Shihoin leaning against the back wall, calm as anything a cocky, arrogant grin plastered across her face, the rest of the Ryoka surrounding her, akin to an honour guard.

But for now, they were not important. No.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." And wasn't there a name that bought up all kinds of worrisome history. "I don't know whether I am furious with you for your blatant disregard of our society's rules and regulations, or thankful to you for unveiling the snake in our midst, as unintentional as it was." And he truly didn't. Every bit of tradition and ritual written into his being was screaming at him to let Ryujinn Jakka loose, burn the criminal into a fine mist, bones and all.

The other side of him was screaming that, technically, he had acted as the criminal in this case. Following false orders without performing the proper verification, aiding and abetting in the unjust, and frankly over-reactionary, execution of a girl who's only crime had ended up saving the lives of an entire family. Something that warranted nothing more than a slap on the wrist, really.

The boy let out a bored grunt. "It wasn't like I was trying to expose Aizen, quite frankly I think I'd be regretting the offer Rukia made to me if it didn't mean my sister's, friends and even myself would be dead more than a few times over." And wasn't that a point and a half. Although Rukia's actions had only meant to affect that one night, in the span of almost 4 months her decision had affected more than she could have possibly ever begun to guess at the time.

Including, quite ironically, her own life.

"As far as we're concerned..." And that was an interjection made by the Quincy, eliciting a furious twitch from Kurotsuchi, who seemed to have changed bodies again. "This isn't our war, It really should not be our war."

He wouldn't gesture his acceptance of the Quincy's words, but the hesitant nod from the Girl, and the murmur of assent from both the taller human boy and Kurosaki did enough of that for him. "I think, we'd be well within our rights to just leave you to clean up your own mess."

There was an uproarious cry of outrage from both the wolf faced Kommamura and even, shockingly enough, Jushiro. But a raised hand from himself quelled both of their protests.

"The boy is not wrong." And wasn't there just a look of shock from over half his remaining Captain's at that. "Compared to us, who have trod as little as a century to as many as two Millennium, these children are still learning to walk. They are still breathing."

Kurosaki rolled his eyes, most likely at a perceived back-handed compliment in his words. Understandable, even if it wasn't true."This is not their war in the slightest and, even if they were not the words I would have chosen, Soskue Aizen is our mess. A traitor of the Gotei 13 and more importantly, a soul. Not a human being. The dead shall never interfere in the affairs of the living, not without extreme reason." The entire room had their eyes glued to him by this point, the intensity in his words dragging in their attentions.

"This is the Shinigami's oath, one I had all 12 Captains, as well as all the Officers under you pledge when you took your position's in the Court Guards." Another short pause to punctuate the meaning behind his words. "Why then, should we expect any different of the living?"

"But the boy... he is not living is he." Kurotsuchi exclaimed, spindly finger-pointing straight at Kurosaki. "He has no Chain of Fate... And his body certainly isn't a straight physical conversion, not like the rest of the rabble." The Quincy's fingers were to starting to twitch, it seemed the Scientist's dislike of the boy was something the two had in common. "It seems, that by simple logic, that the boy has become a true Shinigami, not a mere facsimile of one as when he was leeching Rukia Kuchki's powers."

"Your point?" The boy asked, bored but seemingly having already reached the same conclusion as he had.

"Are you an idiot boy? You are dead, as dead as any other Shinigami in this room. Therefore, regardless of what you claim, Aizen is just as much your problem as it is..." His declaration got cut off in quick measure, not by himself or even, as he would have expected Kurosaki, but by a burst of power from the Quincy, a blade, Seele Schneider if he was remembering his Quincy history correctly, leveled at the Scientist.

"Ichigo Kurosaki is not dead, and his certainly not yours to desecrate _Ungetüm_." The boy declared with a ferocity that even he could not understand. His gaze, again, forestalled any interference from his Captains.

"Uryu, stop showing off for Orihime would you?" Kurosaki dismissed with a smile.

"What?!" The Quincy... No, Uryu, he had a name now, exclaimed. "I'm standing here, defending you and our friendship and you... you..." A small smile before it got wiped away with a quick grunt. "Whatever, do it yourself then. Ungrateful." And he returned to his spot, weapon sheathed.

"How dare you! To speak to me in such a fashion, not only once, but several times over the course of two days!" Apparently Kurostuchi wasn't as willing to leave the matter alone. "I will liquefy you where you stand, you powerless piece of trash!" And in that second, Yammamoto was well and truly worried he would have to see Ryujinn Jakka unsheathed (Unreleased of course) to get the man to calm down, but it seemed he would not have to as black steel tickled his Captain's throat.

There were no words, Kurosaki stayed perfectly silent. But the intent was clear, and that was more than enough to spur the Old General into action.

"Enough of this!" His cry drew the room's attention. "sheath your weapon immediately Kurosaki, I did not bring you here to threaten my Captains!"

The boy returned his glare, his sword dropping slightly. "We didn't come here to _be_ threatened either."

Nearly sighing, he couldn't in good faith let it escape, not if he wanted to keep command of the meeting, the Old Man inched open an eye. "Of course you didn't." And aimed the look at his Science Chief, drawing a nervous bead of sweat from the Captain's proxy body. "As far as the Gotei 13 is concerned, Ichigo Kurosaki is still, for all intents and purposes, alive. Any and all attempts to subvert this decree will be met with swift judgement."

A jerky nod was given in return, understanding. That was good, it would allow him to return his attention to the matter at hand. "It is as you say, this is not your war, it should not be your war. But do not deny that you have not already realised, do not undermine my estimation of your perception of the matter." And although it would seem as if he were talking to Kurosaki alone, a small tilt of the head indicated he was referring to the Quin... to Ishida as well.

"We won't" The tall one... Sado, or maybe Chad, interjected softly, drawing a resolute nod from the rest of his compatriots.

"Very well... Yoruichi Shihōin, anything to add?"

Yorouichi who, until that point had just been leaning against the back wall with a smirk on her face. "Nothing at this point Old man;" a start of disbelief from Soi Fon and another shuffle of irritation from the assembled Captains. Of course he would let it slide, a small offering for the punishment he had levelled at herself, Tessai and Urahara all those years ago. "But give me some time to go and talk with Kisuke, and we'll get back to you."

"Very well." With a strike of his staff against the meeting room's hardwood floor, he called attention to him and him alone. "Then my Captains, my guests. Shall we discuss possible strategies for dealing with Aizen and his ilk?"

-/-

In the week he had been here, Sosuke Aizen had done his absolute best to turn the ruinous fortress of Las Noches into a place of comfort. As much as a place built up in Hueco Mundo could be.

Of course the first order of business had been to refurbish the grandiose throne room, making it fit for a man of his stature and vision.

And sitting in place, head lazily propped up by his arm, he offered a smile down to one of his greatest achievements. "Tell me, Ulquiorra, how have you adapted to your newfound abilities over the last week?"

Standing at the base of the stairs that led to his throne, green eyes stared up at him loyally. "Well Lord Aizen." Reverently. "Alongside Starrk, Harribell and Barragann I am the only other to have learned my sword's name and achieved Resurrección."

"So I have heard." Well, no heard so much as made a note of. There was nothing that occurred under the dome of Las Noches that escaped his notice. "I have also been told that, when you and Coyote tested your released states against each other, the pressure alone was enough to glass the sand beneath you?"

The Arancarr nodded. "That is correct Lord Aizen. We were... reckless, allowing ourselves such indulgence while practicing no restraint. I apologise, for both myself and the Primera."

"There is no need Ulquiorra." It was good to see that, his Generals at least, were adapting to the military chain quickly enough. "I should have seen this as a problem, but not even God can see everything."

"Of course Lord Aizen, even so, my apology stands."

Ah, Ulquiorra truly was the most loyal of all his creatures. Genuine respect along with an equal measure of absolute loyalty. Yes, he would be perfect. "While you are here Ulquiorra, let me ask a favour of you."

"A favour, Lord Aizen?"

"There is a problem I have, one I thought I could leave alone for the time being." With a small, beguiled sigh, he continued. "Unfortunately, it seems I was once more mistaken, and the urgency with which this needs to be dealt with has... escalated."

"I am at your service, my Lord."

Sometimes, Aizen reflected, it was just too easy. "Tell me, Ulquiorra, would you like to stretch your wings in the human world for a bit?"

-/-

She was doing this, finally after so many years, here she was on her knees, at the feet of Kukaku Shiba, in front of her dead Lieutenant's grave. "It's all my fault that Kaien... That Kaien died that night." she spilled out almost unintelligibly, worried that the words would stop if she didn't get them out fast enough. "I can't bring him back and... I can't even begin to pay you back for such a loss... I have nothing to offer you in return. Nothing except... I'm sorry."

A quiet enveloped the small gathering, herself the Shiba matriarch and the younger brother (Ganju, that was his name), who was bristling with anger.

"Sorry?" He asked quietly, before letting his voice double in volume. "That's it? You get our big brother killed and all you can offer in return is so..."

"GANJU!" Kukaku barked, also startling Rukia into rocking back. "Stop that, now." sweeping up to the prostate Kuchiki she grabbed the small girl by the scruff of her neck and held her up at eye level. "And you... You are an absolute moron."

"Wha... What?"

"You heard me." Kukaku sneered. "You are a little moron."

Oh, that was the end of it. Here she was, out of her emotional depth, trying to levy an apology to a family who truly deserved more and... "I'm apologising to you! And all I get is you calling me a moron?!"

"I calls them as I see them, and you little Princess, are a moron." and there was that sneer again. "You honestly think that if I thought you responsible in any way, I would have just let you be these last 20 years?"

"Wait..." She didn't blame her? Didn't think her responsible for Kaien's... "Captain Ukitake."

"It was a pretty shitty thing you did, you know. Just walk in covered in our brother's blood, lay his still warm body down and then just up and fuck off without a word of explanation." Letting her grip up, Kukaku dropped Rukia back to her feet, before wandering back over to her brother's grave. "Luckily for you, Ukitake was a fair bit more polite. Told us what happened with that Hollow, let us know that it wasn't anyone's fault but for Kaien's own hard head that got him killed."

Staring at Kukaku, into such resolutely honest brown eyes was akin to staring into Ichigo's as he came into being in front of the giant form of the Sokyoku. "I told myself that day, that if you ever came to me, if you ever tried to apologise to me for Kaien's death. I would reject it out of hand."

"But..."

"Because;" Kukaku continued, not allowing Rukia to offer any sort of protest. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

And with that one, brutal sentence, Rukia felt the weight of the world fall from her shoulders.

-/-

Tessai Tsukabishi was a simple man, with simple pleasures and simple rules for living life. He supposed he was much like young Sado in that regard, quiet yet stalwart. When things became complex, he let his friends deal with the planning and execution allowing himself to merely be pointed at the issue and let loose.

That did not however make him an unintelligent man, or even a weak man. In fact Tessai was one of the most powerful souls that the Seireitei had ever produced and one of the foremost experts on Kido and Kido based techniques to ever wear the colours of the Kido Corps, with a critical eye that had almost single-handedly lifted his division from one of convenience to one equal in import to the main 13 Squads.

But even with all that to his name and credit, it was hard to feel not just a little inferior up against the small horned man in front of him. A battle that had lasted longer then he would have liked, the Arrancar in front of him having utilised nothing but sword and speed up against Tessai's veritable arsenal of spells. "Well now, stranger, I must admit, you certainly are quite skilled, especially for one so young." There was a small grunt as Tessai pushed a dislocated shoulder back into place. "To be winning so handily, with but a small cache of options available to you. Truly, I must commend you."

"Believe me, I am far older than you would credit me with." The hybrid spoke in that unflinching monotone. "Now, I will not repeat myself again, bring out Kisuke Urahara."

Tessai chuckled. "Oh, I have no doubt that you are surely a Hollow of many ages, but you have the stink of the Hogyoku all around you. A device that had been hidden among myself and my employer up until 2 weeks ago... which tells me that Aizen has it and has already figured out, in part at least, how to wield its power." With a broad swipe of his hand, six pillars of golden light slammed into the pale hybrid, locking him in place. "But as an Arrancar, you are still young. Still learning to wield the unimaginable power that Aizen has gifted you." With a green glow, Tessai's hand went his wounds (Too many, he had been cocky) and started the process of healing. "Now, as I was trying to tell you, the proprietor is not in at the moment, but just wait there and I'm sure he would be happy to talk to you."

The hybrid took a moment to take in the pillars that bound him, before letting out a grunt of annoyance. "I fear that you may have me trapped." He muttered, before staring directly into the tall man's eyes. "Is that what you want to hear, Tessai Tsukabishi?"

Well, if being beaten by the Arrancar was slightly grating watching him shatter one of the most powerful bindings in a Shinigami's arsenal made him feel absolutely tiny. "Lord Aizen prepared me for you, for your spells. And I readily admit, if you had the time to incant your binding, you may have trapped me quite handily. But as it is..." With a sonic boom the Hybrid appeared at Tessai's back, sword swinging to sever his neck. "You lose, Spell Caster."And that was exactly what he had done. Bowing his head in acceptance, the Kido expert welcomed death with open arms.

Unfortunately, Death had other plans and where he was expecting the bite of steel on flesh, he only heard the sound of steel on steel. Head snapping up as quick as it could, he couldn't stop a releived sigh from escaping his lips.

There stood in the courtyard's gate was Kisuke Urahara, Benihime released for all to bask, a stern, almost vicious frown on his face. "Hello, I'm Kisuke Urahara, humble shop-keep and exiled former Captain of the 13 Court Guard Squads." With a flick of Benhime, Tessai heard the Hybrid vanish in a burst of static. Most likely to dodge what he was sure was a razor fine burst of bloody power.

"And I am afraid, that I have to ask you to leave the premises." Tessai gulped as, with a burst of Presence, his friend enveloped the entire courtyard in a rolling red mist.

"Immediately."

-/-

**Canon? What Canon? I know not of this Canon you speak of.**

**Okay, so maybe Rukia's confession is vaguely Canon, but for the most part we're diverting. So Hinamori and Isane are confirmed dead (Just in case you forgot over this last year.) Unohana has lost her left arm, Toshiro is even more murderous and the tension between Uryu and Kurotsuchi is intensified as they are forced into a situation where they cannot just tear each other apart a lot earlier than Kubo allowed for.**

**Also Urahara and Ulquiorra are fighting. There's that too.**

**Enjoy the chapter kiddies, and I'll see you early/mid September for chapter 7. **

**Jordan, out.**


	8. BA-TWO: Blood Red Summer

**Playing With Reality**

**The Bloodiest Arc  
Two: Blood Red Summer**

_Bleach is the Copyrighted property of Kubo Tite._

_Two U's Enters, One U Leaves.  
Urahara vs. Ulquiorra  
START_

_-/-_

"Tessai, are the kids okay?" Urahara asked calmly, casually ducking around a vicious swipe of the Arrancar's blade.

"Jinta was a bit hot-headed, but there will be no permanent harm." The Spell-Caster replied calmly, as his green-glowing hands went back to trailing across his wounds. "If you wish, I can go back inside and look over them while you deal with our guest?" A barrage of arrows erupted from the mist, the Arrancar weaving in and out of them with an eerie grace, only to lunge himself at Urahara, sword set to pierce straight through the man.

"That would be for the best." Benihime slapped against the Hollow's sword, knocking him off-balance, several lances of red finally landing, shredding through his defences. "Things could get messy out here."

With a nod, Tessai was gone in a rush of Shunpo allowing Urahara to turn his attention back to the bloodied hybrid in front of him.

"Well now… It seems Ichigo was too late… Tell me Arrancar, are you hard of hearing, or did you just decide to ignore me?" He watched the way the Hybrid's muscles tensed as it drew back to its full height, watching it calm itself (Most likely to calm down, make fewer mistakes) his sword drawn level and shoulders back.

"I have my orders Kisuke Urahara, I will leave only after they have been seen through." The tone in which he spoke, Kisuke noted, was empty and clinical. No inflection at all for him to take a hold of and abuse for all it was worth.

"And those orders… Aizen's finally put out a contract for me?"

The Hybrid tilted his head. "Lord Aizen has deemed you a hazard to the success of his plans. I am here to make sure that will no longer be the case." So the head tilt was confusion as to the wording. _'Adorable. An Arrancar that's been living under a rock its entire existence… And here I was hoping for some fun.'_

"So… you're my executioner then?" Set lips to twitch and condescend, condescend, condescend. "Now how do you plan on seeing that through? What I've seen so far, well, I can't say I'm all that impressed with what I've seen so far."

"Indeed… I admit you caught me off guard, Lord Aizen gave me fair warning that this would not be easy... However, after dealing with your comrade so handily, I suppose I was a bit hasty in pushing my luck." Almost in spite of the mist in and around him, a burst of presence, far more than he had exerted earlier, pushing the rolling mist back. "So then, I shall see this through not as I am… but with prejudiced haste." And then the Hybrid disappeared in a flash of green, only to end up slashing down at Urahara's unprotected back. "Goodbye, Kisuke Urahara."

And his sword struck true.

-/-

The sun set on the Seireitei in long measure, the meeting of Captains, Humans and a lone Exile dragging on for what felt like days.

Said Exile, one Yoruichi Shihoin, looked on the meeting as, mostly, a waste of time. Words and theories... not even that, guesses, as to what they could do to combat Aizen and the storm that would be sure to follow.

_'A meeting like that without Kisuke? Tch, wasteful.'_

Of course, they wouldn't listen. For all the proof of his genius, the Gotei 13 tended to be fairly shortsighted on the resourcefulness of those it had declared banished. Not to say it wasn't completely pointless, she mused, the meeting making the perfect place for Ichigo and his friends to well and truly draw their line in the sand. _'And masterfully at that.'_She mused, watching the four friends huddled in tight together, whispered words being shot around the small circle they had formed. _'Any question as to where they stand, and just who they'll take orders from, answered clearly, concisely and topped off with a measure of a threat.."_

Yes, Yoruichi concluded. The fact that there was, indeed, a third faction in this war, could not be contended. Not anymore.

-/-

There was no blood. That was the first sign that something was wrong.

The second, Ulquiorra noted was that instead of collapsing in a boneless heap, Urahara had, and really there was no better term for it, popped like a balloon.

The third and last sign was the rolling mist sharpening into spears, slashing at his form, striking true but not drawing blood. "Wooo, that was a close one. If not for my Substitution Gigai, you probably would have had me there." Ulquiorra tensed slightly as the man's eyes roamed across his new form. Across his wingspan, to his now complete helm and then across the extended lines of green running down his face from his eyes, he couldn't help but draw an uneasy comparison to being inspected by Lord Aizen, at the moment of his evolution.

"Interesting... Not only has this new form given you a fearsome speed increase but..." Urahara murmured from somewhere within the mist. "Beforehand, you made every effort to dodge Benihime's Song, as if allowing it to connect would be dangerous to your continued health but now... Now you allow it to hit you without a care in the world, like water over sand."

"I no longer have reason to fear your sword's abilities Kisuke Urahara." He intoned slightly, drawing mild enjoyment from the Shop Keep's furrowed brow. "Behold the form of despair, behold Murciélago. The last image you shall ever take in." Black wings unfurled. "Fear the Reaper, Kisuke Urahara, for his name..." And with a sonic boom, Ulquiorra appeared in front of him, sword already in midswing. "Is Ulquiorra Cifer."

"Sing." Ulquiorra's sword smashed against a bloody red barrier, spiderwebbing cracks through the surface, but not breaking through. "Surely that isn't all hiding beneath that pretty, new form, Arrancar? I mean really... For such a fearful visage, you impress me about as much as a man named Kurotsuchi... And he's more a clown than anything..."

Ulquiorra didn't respond, he wouldn't rise to the bait. Instead his hand came up, a pitch, empty black ball of energy gathering on his fingertip. "Cero Oscuras**."** And the look on Urahara's face as the unholy Cero streaked towards him was actually enough to make the Arrancar smirk.

Then, the black faded.

The form of Urahara on a bended knee, green Haori completely burned away, with blood splashed about the ground, was enough to make the usually apathetic Espada outright grin. "This is the end for you... Kisuke Urahara. For all your taunts and bravado, not even you are enough to combat the might of Aizen's Espada."

"Espada?" The Shop Keep asked weakly, visibly struggling to keep eye contact, swaying in an imaginary breeze.

Was this one of those moments perhaps? The ones that Lord Aizen was always telling him about? Where he should become theatrical, to demean his victims, make them feel tinier than anything they could imagine before ending it all?

"Espada;" He began, the feeling of satisfaction that talking down to this so-called 'elite' Shinigami, hitting him like a swelling tide. "The 10 strongest and most feared of Lord Aizen's army, handpicked to serve as his Captains and Generals... We are the pinnacle, yet still we are ants before Lord Aizen." Levelling his finger at the dying man, he smirked. "If you cannot even deal with myself as I am, what possible hope would you, the one person deemed a threat, hold against Lord Aizen?"

And then, in absolute contrast to the despair that he had aimed to bring about, the man laughed (_laughed)_ heartily and without restraint. "Oh man... that was too good. Tell me, did you rehearse that in the mirror before coming out here?" And then he stood up, without visible strain or discomfort, bringing his sword back to guard. "So you're the creme-de-la-creme huh? The Arrancar _élite._ Man... If Aizen misses the command structure of the Gotei so much, why even bother with the defection?"

And then it hit Ulquiorra like a runaway train. "You tricked me..."

"It isn't like it was hard you know?" The Shop Keeper smirked. "Kind of like stealing candy from a baby, the first taste is good... but then you realise you didn't really have to work for it, and the satisfaction just becomes sour." With a wince, the man cracked his shoulder. "Not that this doesn't actually sting a bit, because it does... but that's just the neural receptors of the Gigai telling me that I should probably take it easy."

"Gigai...?" That word... it was familiar, a distant long forgotten memory from make when he was a mindless mass of hunger and rage, striving for the level of Adjuchas and a measure of sanity. _'...damn you Hollow... if I hadn't needed to wear this forsaken Gigai...'_

"Yes..." Urahara continued, completely unaware of the memory niggling on the Arrancar's mind. "Gigai. It's a tool that Shinigami use when we are out in the Living World. Do you know it's purpose?"

_'If only I could have at you with all my strength... I wouldn't be here at your non-existent mercies." _Ulquiorra started as the man he Lord Aizen entrusted him to hunt down, the man Lord Aizen has trusted him to kill, burst apart at the seams, green and white outfit evaporating as if they were mere wisps of smoke.

"Gigai are false bodies, used by Lieutenant and Captain class Shinigami when we are sent to the Living World. It restricts our power, so we do not adversely affect the living as we go about our business."

And then, in his place, a scruffy looking blond man clothed in the uniform of the Gotei 13, a tattered and torn Captain's Haori draped over his shoulders, wafted into existence. "Admittedly, I would rather not have to take this road... Going from 25 to 100% of my Presence may just raise the drop-of-a-dime hackles some friends of mine are fond of holding on to." With a smirk and a click of his fingers to reassert the rolling mist, Urahara laughed. "But this way just seems easier. At least now, I won't need to use my Bankai to deal with you."

-/-

In the early evening moonlight of Karakura Town, in a uniformly suburban street, a single figure stood still and on alert. Blonde, freakily straight hair, an orange dress shirt and brown tie and slacks. The man made for an unusual sight, the brown newsboy cap topping of the peculiar bouquet in spectacular fashion.

With a twitch of his hand, he pulled the newsboy cap down over his eyes, his hair perfectly framing what parts of his face were exposed. "The kids aren't going to like this..." With a quickened pace, the figure allowed himself to storm briskly through towards the end of the street, back towards the old warehouse he and his kind called home.

"Better not go any bigger Urahara... Hiyori might go and do something stupid." And then the street was empty, no sign that he had even been there in the first place.

-/-

_'My, my Kisuke. It has been so long since we were able to sing so seriously... I'm not quite sure if I remember all the words.' _Urahara snorted as Benihime's song reached a crescendo, a rolling tide of red seeking to embed itself inside the desperately airborne Arrancar as deeply as possible.

_'It isn't that hard to remember my sweet little seductive, sword. Kill, stab, kill some more, stab them till they're on the floor.' _With a bored swing of his sword, Kisuke directed the mist, like a conductor in front of his own personal orchestra. _'I'm honestly not sure who that says more about, myself or you.'_

The Espada (10 Swords huh? Interesting...) let out a sudden grunt of pain as two crimson notes skewered his wings, bringing him crashing hard to the ground and, more importantly, into the feverishly roiling mists below. _'Well I am a part of you Kisuke my dear, so it is somewhat of a reductive statement, wouldn't you say?'_

With a swipe, Urahara watched with detached interest as the bloodied Arrancar stood shakily, the holes in his wings slowly fading. "High speed regeneration? My, my Ulquiorra Cifer, don't you just keep getting more and more interesting as the seconds tick on by?"

And there it was, an understanding and alertness to the exact nature of the situation Urahara had trapped the Hybrid in. Keep fighting and continue to give away the secrets that lurked behind his abilities. Or flee, alert Aizen to the newfound threat of Kisuke's unexpected strength and send some of the harder hitting Espada at the problem. "What d'ya say, Fourth Espada?"

Wide eyes rushed down to the skin of his left pectoral, green eyes widening at the now exposed black inked 4. "I'm sure if you really put your mind to it, you could flee without a problem and, I promise, I won't pursue you past the gates of my humble little establishment."

The indecision was clear... no not indecision, more like... _'Conflict, as if even considering to retreat makes him sick to his very core.' _Benihime decided to interject helpfully. _'How... delightful.'_

Ignoring the sadistic ramblings of his (adored or course) sword, Urahara made his offer again. "Really, I don't see the complication here, run and live, stay and die. Make your move Espada, before I make it for you."

With sharp eyes, the Arrancar replied. "What assurance do you give, how can I trust that you will let me run without shooting me in the back." Sword high, he tilted his head. "From what I've seen, it would not be outside of your personal morals."

"You are sharper then I gave you credit for..." A snap of his fingers, and a green, white striped beach hat appeared in his hands, before being slid to the Shop Keep's head with slow, precise, determination. "It's simple, I want you to convey a message to your Lord, one far more potent than merely sending him one of his General's bodies gift wrapped with a little card."

The Arrancar's Released form melted back into the one he had held originally, only far more bloody and beaten. "And this message?" He asked nervously, space and physics breaking apart as a Negacion slammed down around him.

Urahara smirked, lifting his hat with a mocking smile. "Next time, Lieutenant Aizen..."

-/-

_"...Send someone who actually poses a threat." _The holographic form of Kisuke Urahara faded as Ulquiorra's torn out eye disolved into nothingness, a replacement already having grown back into place.

High above the room sat Sosuke Aizen, eyes focused on the spot that the one man with a mind to match his own had been moments before. An amused grin on his lips.

"I am... sorry that I was unable to remove Kisuke Urahara as you wished my Lord. Next time..."

"There;" Aizen interrupted with a raised hand, silencing the Cuatro Espada. "Will not be a next time, Ulquiorra." Gesturing to his right, he beckoned Gin over from the shadows behind him, his ever trusted right hand seemingly as amused by the taunt as he was. "What do you make of this Gin?"

"As you said, i'nit? Urahara is a smart sumbitch, obviously he planned for Ichigo failin' to stop us, in fact I'd say he was more than likely bankin' on it." With a tilt of his head, and a phantom scratch towards his missing arm, he continued. "You catch that part when he ditched the Gigai, about his friends?"

"Yes, in fact I'd be willing to count on the fact that we both know exactly who those friends are." With a quiet, almost nostalgic smile, he sighed. "How good it will be, to see such familiar faces after so long."

"I'm not so sure they'll feel the same Cap'n." Gin's reply was met with an amused twitch of his brow, before he turned his attentions back towards Ulquiorra.

Sweeping himself up, opening his arms up towards the back of the room, in a grand gesture, he spoke. "Do not look down on Ulquiorra as lesser than yourselves." And surely, there were his other Nine Espada, gathered towards the back. Uninvited eavesdroppers, shifting nervously at having been caught out. But there would be no repercussions this time. He had a point to make.

"Kisuke Urahara is an anomoly among Shinigami, a man I would be nervous about combatting myself. He is crafty, devious and unafraid to manipulate terms to his own preference. The fact that Ulquiorra survived long enough to enact such an ultimatum should be commended." Staring down at said Arrancar he smiled. "This was never about killing Urahara, surely that would have been a wonderful act of fortune, but by no means was it expected. This was merely an attempt in getting the man to reveal his Bankai, a release he has shown to only 2 others besides himself." Shaking his head, he plowed on. Words flowing smooth and silver. "But even so, it has not been a complete waste. In fact, it helps me illustrate a very important point.'

"Never forget, my Espada, it is not the Gotei 13, or even Yammamoto Genryusai himself, that you should be most wary of fighting." Flashing down to the bottom of the stairs leading up to his throne, he finished his point with a small, soft smile towards his Cuatro Espada. "Is it, Ulquiorra?"

"No my Lord... It is not."

-/-

**BOOM! Chapter done.**

**And that puts my promised output rate already a month above and beyond what I had planned for, but truthfully its Urahara-centric. How could I not get it done quickly?**

**I need to offer a very heavy thank you to Rake, who's review and subsequent encouragement gave me the real drive not only to see this story finished, but to actually get to work on it in a very real way.**

**So thanks mate, it is massively appreciated.  
**

**Stay Tuned for more Kurosaki Focused reading next time.**

**Jordan Out.**


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